Brown eyed girl
by Hillmorrr
Summary: Steph and Ranger left for Miami. Tank is running Rangeman Trenton, but Morelli is still around. And he is still fascinated by curly haired brunettes…
1. Meetings and Greetings

Steph and Ranger left for Miami. Tank is running Rangeman Trenton, but Morelli´s still around. And he is still fascinated by curly haired brunettes…

This story is complete. I decided if I ever would take the plunge and publish anything I wanted to be sure that it would be finished. The chapters will be regularly posted when I am done with the editing.

English is not my first language, but hopefully I haven't mangled it too badly.

Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the plot and Annie. Even the title is borrowed from Van Morrison.

 _Italics - Spanish_

Some bad words, some violence, and fade into black sex-scenes, nothing too graphic

 **Chapter 1. Meetings and greetings**

"Shit! What´s Bomber doing back in Trenton?"

Bobby immediately turned his eyes in the direction Cal was looking. A curly haired brunette in jeans and a heavy brown coat was walking towards the mall entrance. They had just had a false alarm from a high end jewelry store right outside the mall, and were on their way back to their car.

Automatically they began walking toward the brunette.

"Double damn. When the fuck did he get here?"

A dark haired police officer in plain clothes was closing in on the oblivious brunette from behind her. Bobby and Cal were about 20 meters out when the officer, Joe Morelli, grabbed the woman's right arm.

"So Cupcake, back already. Trouble in paradise?"

The woman had obviously not noticed him before he grabbed her, and tried to get her arm free. Instinctively Morelli held on more firmly, and the woman began to scream.

Bobby began to run towards them, while Cal had picked up his phone and was taking a film.

"Let her go", Bobby said.

"Fuck off!" Morelli replied, all the while holding on to the brunette.

At the same moment the woman turned around, and kicked him on the knee. It was a good kick, Morelli let go of her arm, and fell to the ground.

Bobby turned to the brunette.

"Are you OK, Steph?" he asked. And then he got a good look on her face. She was pretty, with a sprinkling of freckles over her slightly upturned nose, full lips, and big brown eyes. Brown, not blue.

"You´re not Steph!" he blurted out.

The brunette looked upset after being grabbed.

"I´m Annie. Is it common practice in Trenton to grab unsuspecting women?" Her British accent made it very obvious that she, indeed, was not Stephanie Plum.

"Bobby Brown." Bobby slowly, so that she could refuse if she wanted, made to shake her hand.

"Annie Morrison." She had a firm handshake, and looked him in the eye.

"This is my colleague Calvin Henderson."

Cal, still filming Morelli, came over and shook her hand.

"And this", Bobby indicated Morelli, who by the look of him, was thinking of trying to get to his feet, "is Joe Morelli. He´s a police officer, but more to the point, the ex of a woman that from behind looks remarkably like you. That, of course, is no excuse to grab a woman."

Joe Morelli finally managed to get back up. One look at the upset woman made him take a deep breath before he said anything.

"I´m sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"I must say that those are not the most reassuring words I´ve heard from a man grabbing me. Especially not if you're a police officer. Even if you thought I was somebody else, grabbing is not the best way to get someone's attention."

A little bit away quite a few people stood staring, whispering amongst themselves.

"As I said, I'm sorry." Morelli quickly turned around and began walking, more like limping, away.

"You got him good," Cal said, and gave her a crooked smile.

Annie did a double take when she really saw the tattoo on his forehead. A big flaming skull was not what most people decorated themselves with. Both he and his colleague Bobby were seriously built, and quite tall.

"Sorry", she said, with a slight blush. "I didn't mean to stare."

Cal laughed. "No problem, you're not the first to stare, but certainly one of the more polite ones."

Bobby gave Annie an assessing glance.

"How are you feeling? It must´ve been quite a shock to be grabbed from behind."

"I suppose I´m a bit shaken, but I'll manage. Thanks for helping me."

"I don't in any way excuse his behavior, but he and his ex, who is your look-a-like from behind, broke up about a year and a half ago. Three months later she´d married another man and moved to Florida. The other man is our boss, and they're expecting their first child any day now. I suppose when he saw you he hoped something had happened and that he´d get another chance."

Annie gave him a small smile.

"I had a boyfriend who also believed that a grab and a shake was OK behavior. So now I'm here and he´s back in Britain. And very much ex as well. I suppose that´s why it upset me, bad memories."

"Would you let us buy you a cup of coffee and talk until you're calmer? Not that you don´t seem really collected after all this."

"If there´s decent coffee or tea to be had, I´d like that."

x x x

Bobby and Cal escorted her inside the mall. Annie said that she would have an espresso, and while Bobby stood in line she and Cal found a table.

"So, what are you doing in Trenton? I don't think I've met many people here with that posh accent."

Annie smiled a little. "In my ears it's not that posh, but I´ve heard it be called that quite a few times since coming here. I´m a private researcher and I´m staying for half a year, having access to a private library in Trenton. What's your line of work, Bobby introduced you as a colleague."

"We're working for a security firm, Rangeman. We´d just been on an alarm call when we saw you and Morelli. Or rather, we saw you first, and we also thought that you were Stephanie. I suppose it's the hair."

Annie laughed. "That´s a bit humbling, I've always thought I had one of a kind-hair."

Bobby came with their drinks, and had also bought some biscotti.

"I don't know that it's one of a kind, but I suppose not many people have that number of follicles," he teased.

Annie laughed and took her cup.

"I was always teased for it in school."

"I was teased for my glasses", Cal said. "Lasics", he added when both Bobby and Annie looked at him.

"In the spirit of confessions I was teased for my weight", Bobby said. "I wasn't overweight, they called me the skeleton."

Annie took a look at the built man and smiled. "Well, we seem to have overcome most of those childhood attributes."

"I just told Annie that we work in security", Cal said.

"I´m also the company medic."

"Medic. Is that a military term?"

"Yeah, I started as a medic when I was in the army."

"So", said Annie. "You gave me the bare bones of the police officer earlier. I´d like to know a bit more if that's alright with you."

Cal and Bobby looked at each other, and Cal smiled. "I´m not all that talkative, and Bobby knows Stephanie a bit better."

"I began working in Trenton after I was done with the military", Bobby began. "It´s about five years now. We were four ex-military that decided that we ought to do well in the security business. One of us was a bit more business minded, and he managed to get most of the loans. Today he owns 49% of the company, and we other three together owns 51%. We started out in Trenton, and after less time than we had calculated, we had a solid firm. So solid that we have expanded to other cities – Miami, Chicago and Boston. Most of the employees are former military, and we knew most of them from the army, or we had some mutual acquaintance.

"One of the things we work with is called skip tracing. We try to find people who after they have put up bail don´t return for their trials. Mostly they have left some security at a bond's office, and to get the office their money back, they pay us a percentage if we can deliver the person to the police. Some are really high bonds, but some don´t pay as well. We met Stephanie Plum soon after she had started as a Bond Enforcement Agent, called BEA or more popularly bounty hunter, for her cousin Vinnie's firm, Plum Bail Bonds. She had no prior experience, was not in a good physical shape, and hated her gun. The office manager at the firm called in a favor from our boss, Ranger, and asked him to help Steph get started."

"It sounds like a tough job to work in without experience."

"It is tough. Mostly people believe that the lower bonds are not as tough, but you can get some really unpredictable people, and some quite nasty as well. Steph is very persistent, thinks outside the box and she has a lot of connections so she usually could find the person she was looking for, but was not always all that good of getting them to come with her. Almost right from the start you could tell that Steph and Ranger had chemistry, but they never really gave into it. Steph´s mum was at the same time nagging at her that she had to get married before she was too old to give her grandchildren. Obviously her mum thought that Joe Morelli was quite the catch - steady job as a police officer, had his own house and Italian. She kept nagging at Steph, and she and Morelli had an on and off relationship for quite a long time. They both have quite explosive tempers, and they both wanted different things from each other. Steph mostly wanted Joe to accept her as she was, and he wanted her to be a copy of their own mothers – stay at home mum with a spotless home, home cooked meals served precisely six o'clock every week day. If just Ranger had got his head out of his ass earlier he and Steph would have been together a lot sooner. Joe and Steph was not a good couple, and they really hurt each other over the years."

"The ex who liked to shake and grab me had a mother that sounds a lot like Steph´s. And she was also convinced that I should be a stay at home mum, wed to her lazy son, catering to him all the time. And he believed that too."

"Do they know which century we live in?" Cal shook his head.

Annie smiled a bit, but it was a sad kind of smile.

"I´ve always thought that I´d like to have one or two children, but not before I was done with my studies and had a career going. Well, and a partner as well." They all smiled at her phrasing, but understood her priorities. "My mum was a working mum, she and dad had their own dental practice, and had me when they were established. My ex´ parents started having children right out of school, five of them, and that on one income."

She took a sip of her coffee and looked at Bobby, silently urging him on with his story.

"So we met Steph when Ranger tried to teach her Bounty hunting 101. She also did work for our firm sometimes, and I also met her quite a few times to patch her up when she´d been hurt. She really hates hospitals, and being born and bred in Chambersburg here in Trenton she was very much someone who other people gossiped about, even staff at the hospital."

He took a biscotti and Cal continued:

"Steph´s about your height, maybe a little shorter ´cause she usually has shoes with heels, this really curly brown hair, and is about 30 years old. From the front you're not that much alike, especially since she has really blue eyes, but from the back with a heavy coat I also thought you were her. I´m just a bit leery of the fact that Morelli so easily grabbed you. We didn't get all the details about their last break up, but rumor has it his father used to treat his wife as a punching bag."

Annie grimaced before she took a nibble on her biscotti.

"Well, now I know that I better stay clear of him if I ever see him again. Thank you for the coffee and explanation." She smiled at Bobby. "I feel quite calm and collected now, so I´ll continue with my errands."

Bobby and Cal let her out of the booth, said their farewells and Bobby gave her a card from Rangeman. "If you want to get in touch with either one of us, or if you run into Morelli again."

"Thanks." She shook their hands and went into the mall.

Cal looked at the disappearing woman. "She was polite and well spoken, but I think Morelli spooked her quite a bit. I can't understand a man who hits or abuses women, and her ex seemed a nasty piece of work."

"I agree. And I wonder what really happened between Morelli and Steph. Hopefully we won't have to see him again. And I definitely hope Annie won´t meet him again."

Cal gave him an appraising look. "She was really pretty, and seemed nice. Why didn't you give her your personal phone number, or got her number?"

"I agree, she´s pretty and nice, but she seemed kind of sad, and not interested in me or you."

"As you´re the medic you better make sure we're not sick. I try not to say too degrading things about women, but she was good looking, sexy and nice and neither one of us got her number."

Bobby laughed and they went to the car.


	2. Introductions

A big thank you to those have favourited/followed/reviewed this story! I plan to post a chapter every second or third day, depending on what happens in RL.

Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the plot and Annie. Even the title is borrowed from Van Morrison.

 _Italics - Spanish_

Some bad words, some violence, and fade into black sex-scenes, nothing too graphic

 **Chapter 2. Introductions**

A Thursday a couple of weeks after the incident at the mall Bobby was working the night shift when the phone rang. It was Vince, who was that night´s receptionist.

"Hi. I´ve got a woman on line four who asks for you. Says her name is Annie Morrison."

"Put her through."

A couple of seconds later he heard the call connect.

"Brown speaking."

"Hello. Sorry to disturb you, but I´ve got a bit of a problem with that police officer."

"Morelli. What's the problem?"

"Right now he´s sitting in the parking lot outside my apartment. And frankly, he´s creeping me out. I noticed someone in a car following me home after I´d been out for a run in the nearby park the other day. The windows were tinted, so I couldn't see the driver. I got home OK, but then I noticed different cars following me around sometimes. One at a time, so it could very well be the same driver in all of them. I´ve managed to get their license plates, but I´ve got a feeling I´ve not gotten the right owners when I searched, and I believe an undercover police car would have a different owner than the police in the documents."

"Do you have the numbers? I can try to do a quick search."

Annie gave him the numbers and then continued. "Yesterday I was walking home from the store, and I noticed a car following me again. I was getting freaked out, so I turned around a corner and hid, trying to get a look at the driver. And when I managed that it was Morelli."

"Have you talked to him since the mall?"

"No, he´s never tried to talk to me, just the cars following me around, which I suspect was him driving them. And he must have followed me home so now he knows where I live."

"I´ve done a quick search of the license plates and I believe you´re right, it seems like undercover police cars. They all come out as owned by the different leasing companies."

"What can I do? He hasn't really done anything except for that time at the mall, and he could probably claim that I assaulted him when I tried to get free."

"I wish he'd try. Cal recorded that on his phone, and anyone would see that as self-defense. I´m working inside tonight, and can't get out of the office, but if you give me your address and phone number I´ll send over a team."

After a moment's hesitation Annie agreed. Bobby got the feeling she really was freaked out, otherwise she reminded him of Steph, who usually had a hard time accepting help. She gave him her address and phone number.

"Ummm, will it be Cal, so it's someone I recognize?"

"I´m afraid not. He´s not working tonight. I´ll call you back in a few minutes, when I know who it´ll be, and approximately when they can be there."

Annie thanked him and said bye.

Bobby called down to Vince. "I´ve got a woman having trouble with Morelli. Is there anyone close to this address?"

"Tank and Hector. I´ll send them over while you brief them."

Bobby gave them a quick summary. He and Cal had already mentioned the mall and how Morelli had grabbed a woman that from behind looked like Steph. No one liked the behavior of the cop, they thought it bordered on obsessive.

"So you're telling me he has been stalking this woman and now sits in the parking lot outside her apartment?" Tank sounded pissed off.

"Yeah. I mean we can't prove the stalking, but Cal got the mall thing on his camera. And Annie seems like a reliable witness. I´m glad Steph and Ranger don´t live here anymore, God knows what Ranger´d do to him if he thought Morelli was a threat to Steph. Especially now with baby Stella."

Tank harrumphed. "Call this Annie back, so she knows who we are. ETA in four minutes."

Bobby called Steph back with the information. "Tank and Hector will be there in about four minutes. Tank is built like his name, African American and he shaves off all his hair."

"If that´s Tank, what does Hector look like?"

"Not too tall, Hispanic and not that good spoken English. Absolutely lethal in a fight though. And they will both be dressed in the same uniform Cal and I had when you saw us, and they have Rangeman ID`s with their names."

"OK, thanks a lot. I´m sorry to be a nuisance."

"You´re not the nuisance, that´s Morelli. And I gave you the card so that you could use it if you needed to. I later realized it´d been good to have your number as well, but I didn't want to spook you after Morelli grabbed you."

"I think you read me correctly, I wouldn't have been comfortable with giving you my number then. Now I see some car lights in the parking lot. I better check."

"Stay inside, and I´ll call you back later."

x x x

Annie peeked out from behind the curtain. The car that Morelli had been sitting in was still in the lot, but she couldn't see if he was in it. Suddenly she heard something at her door. Not knocking, but making a strange sound. She silently went towards the door, when it opened a little bit, before the chain stretched. Annie hid behind the door to the living room and waited. She heard the chain move, and then it was silent for a little while, and she heard shuffling steps, as though someone tried to be silent, but not really managed. She recognized Morelli when he passed the door, and she let him pass.

"Cupcake." It was just a whisper, and then he continued towards the open bedroom door.

"Cupcake." Now it was in a normal speaking voice. He went into the bedroom and Annie ran out of the living room, through the hallway and out through the door to the apartment. She didn't have any shoes on, but she just ran down the hallway and down the stairs.

"CUPCAKE!" she heard a bellow behind her and she ran as fast as she could towards the door. Outside she saw two black clad figures through the glass. Just as she was at the door and frantically tried to get it open she was grabbed from behind. She managed to get a grip on the arm and flipped the assailant over her shoulder, all the while screaming bloody murder. She got the flip just right, and her assailant sailed through the air and the glass of the door was shattered when he fell against it. One of the figures outside managed to get his hand inside and open the lock, and both men came inside.

The big one calmly approached her, as she stood there hyperventilating.

"Annie?"

"Yes. Tank?"

"Are you hurt?"

"I don't know, I´m…"

She would forever be embarrassed that she had such a girly moment that she passed out in the foyer. Tank had to catch her and stood awkwardly with her in his big arms, as if she was light as a feather. Bobby later explained that the adrenalin rush and, hopefully, feeling of being safe when she was able to try to calm down after she was not alone with Morelli triggered the fainting.

In the meantime Hector checked on Morelli, who lay unconscious on the floor.

" _Son of a bitch. Stalking women and grabbing them again. Should we report him to the PD or take care of him ourselves? He stinks like a distillery as well, and drove here."_

Tank looked up. " _I think we should report him. I´m not sure our new acquaintance is comfortable with him just disappearing."_

Both Annie and Morelli were regaining consciousness. Annie looked up at Tank, and it took her some seconds to register where she was.

"How are you feeling?"

"Embarrassed, and I think I did something to my back when I threw that scumbag. Will you please let me down?" she said with a pink tint to her cheeks.

Tank carefully let her down and steadied her until he was convinced she wouldn't fall or faint again.

Morelli began muttering when he regained consciousness.

"Cupcake."

And just like that Annie was as angry as she´d ever been. "What is your problem, creep! You don't even know my name, and you've stalked me for days. How did you know which apartment I was in? And what gave you the right to break in?!"

"He what?!" Tank growled. "I thought you opened the door thinking it was us outside."

"He both managed to open the door and the chain. I hid and waited until he had gone into the bedroom and then I ran as fast I could. And he kept on calling after Cupcake, as well."

Morelli gave her an unfocused stare. "Cupcake", he muttered again before he turned his head and threw up, luckily just missing Hector. The odds he would have survived puking on Hector weren't good.

Tank was talking in his phone. "I´ve a probably concussed Morelli, who was breaking and entering and assaulting, as well as Annie who fainted and did something to her back when she threw the bastard. Get someone else on your shift and get over here now, Brown."

He hung up, not bothering to the listen to the voice on the other end. Hector was muttering in Spanish and put Morelli in handcuffs.

Tank made another phone call to Trenton PD. "We have a person who has broken into an apartment, and when the woman living there made a break for it he followed and grabbed her. We also suspect him of DUI, he´s quite drunk and drove here." He followed up with the address.

Annie was still upset, and had begun to shake.

"Sorry. You must think I'm pathetic."

"Hardly. You assessed the threat, almost got away and finally incapacitated your assailant. That´s definitely not pathetic."

He took off his jacket and gave to her. It hang down almost to her knees.

"But you definitely have an adrenalin shock, and you better put this on. I think it´d be best if we don't go into your apartment until the police has arrived."

x x x

The police arrived just a few minutes later. Tank had gone out to get a blanket for Annie, and convinced her to sit down on the stairs, out of way of the glass shards and Morelli. His jacket and the blanket almost dwarfed her, but she was thankful for the warmth and to be able to sit down away from the door and Morelli. She carefully wrapped the blanket around her feet as well. Hector had stayed close to Morelli, and spent the time sharpening a knife and staring menacingly at Morelli.

The first officer through the door was a person Tank knew and liked, Steph´s cousin Shirley the Whiner´s husband, Eddie Gazarra.

"Gazarra." Tank gave him a nod.

"Tank. Hector"

When Eddie saw Morelli he made a face.

"What happened?"

"This is Annie Morrison. She can tell you herself."

Annie got up on her feet and shed the blanket. Eddie walked towards her and introduced himself and shook her hand.

"I´m Eddie Gazarra. This is my partner Robin Russell."

The female police came over and shook her hand, and then turned around towards Morelli.

"Are you OK with me taking your statement or would you prefer Russell?"

"I´m quite OK with you. And to give a quick summary…"

Annie began with the assault at the mall, and how she discovered that she had been followed by different cars. She then in greater detail told him about the breaking and entering, and how she had fled towards the door. While she was talking to Gazarra Bobby Brown came through the door with his medical bag.

"Are you hurt? We can take a break while Brown sees to you."

"Thanks, but I´d rather be done with the statement. My back is giving me some trouble, and I'd rather not have it looked at here anyway."

"OK, please continue."

In the background Morelli began to move restlessly.

"Get these cuffs off me. What the hell are you doing? I´m a police officer."

While he moved around he saw Annie from the back again.

"Cupcake, Steph. Get over here! It´s your fault I'm in cuffs! Get me out of them. Cupcake."

Hector looked at Morelli.

"It´s your own fault you're in cuffs. But you've never liked to admit that you're to blame."

"Is Cupcake back in Trenton to fuck all of you again?"

Tank got Hector just before he was about to hurl himself at Morelli.

"You´d better get him out of here, Russell. Hector doesn't like men who has trouble respecting women. I agree with him."

Robin Russell gave Tank a look, and then nodded and turned towards Morelli. She began to read him his rights, which made his temper flare.

Gazarra looked over at Russell. "We´d better take him in. But first we have to get a team over to look at the apartment."

"Are you finished with Annie, Eddie?" Bobby asked.

"Yes. Thank you Ms. Morrison. If you could just give us your contact information."

Annie gave him the information, and Bobby came over to her.

"Would it be OK to come with us to Rangeman, Annie? I can look at your back, and you can stay in a guest room tonight while the police process your apartment."

Annie looked at him.

"I'd really like a pair of shoes, otherwise it sounds perfect."

Gazarra and Russell had just gotten Morelli on his feet. He bent over and threw up again, this time barely missing Gazarra´s shoes. Gazarra swore, and asked Bobby if he could just take a quick look at Morelli and say whether he was concussed or just roaring drunk. Tank came over to Annie again.

"I´m not sure you should wait for shoes. It might take a while to get the police team here, and I suspect that they want to do a really thorough job, whether to be able to nail Morelli or to let him free is depending on the person, but I've heard he´s lost some cred since Steph moved away. Probably because he's not that good of a detective when she's not helping him. Not that he ever thanked her. I think I´ve heard some rumors of drinking as well…"

Annie looked at him and sighed.

"OK, I´m ready to get out of here."

"Hector. Get the car as close to the door as you can. We're leaving, and Annie doesn't have her shoes."

Bobby finished up his quick examination of Morelli.

"Definitely roaring drunk, maybe some other substance as well. Hard to tell if his pupils are unfocused because of drink, drugs or concussion. I think you´d better get him examined at the hospital. And make them take a blood test as well. And check his car. He drove here, and that definitely should be DUI. He hasn't been sitting in the lot long enough to get this drunk and/or high."

"Thanks, Brown. All right, we´d better take him to the hospital."

Hector had gotten the car just outside the door, and Annie began to walk towards it.

"Cupcake. Where´re you going?" Morelli slurred. "Get back here!"

Annie turned around and looked at him.

"I think you should get glasses, if you can't tell the difference between me and Stephanie Plum. As I´ve heard it we've both got brown curly hair, but I definitely don't have blue eyes."

Morelli tried to get closer to her, but Gazarra had him in a firm grip.

"And trying to get near a woman is better done without the creepy stalking, and definitely without physically forcing yourself on her. Goodbye, and I hope I´ll never see you again."

Annie took a couple of steps closer to the door and the glass.

"Would you prefer me or Brown helping you out to the car?" Tank asked.

Annie gave him a small smile. "Well at least I know you won't drop me, Tank."

"Hey. I wouldn't drop you!"

Tank laughed at Bobby, and carefully lifted Annie out the door and towards the car. "Just tell me if I hurt you. I hope your back is doing alright."

"It still hurts a bit, but it's not worse than before."

Tank helped her get seated, and Bobby and gave her the blanket back. The last they heard before the doors closed was Morelli shouting after Cupcake. Annie shivered.


	3. At Haywood

**A big thank you to those have favourited/followed/reviewed this story!**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the plot and Annie. Even the title is borrowed from Van Morrison.**

 _ **Italics - Spanish**_

 **Some bad words, some violence, and fade into black sex-scenes, nothing too graphic**

 **Chapter 3. At Haywood**

The drive over to the Rangeman building took about ten minutes. Hector drove, and Tank was in the front seat. Bobby sat next to Annie.

"What happened? And how´s your back?"

Annie gave him a quick rundown on what had happened.

"And when I flipped him I think I pulled something. It hurts, but not too bad."

"Good throw", Hector said in broken English. He gave her a smile in the rear view mirror.

"Thanks." Annie smiled back.

"Yeah", Tank agreed. "Considering his size you did good. Probably hurts because you couldn't get a straight throw, with the door and everything."

Bobby grinned. "I would've liked to see it."

"Uniform camera", Hector said.

"Tricky light, but hopefully good enough. And it wouldn't hurt to give it to the police if it comes out alright. They definitely must do something about Morelli now."

"We'll take a look of the film first, then if it´s clear enough I think we should give it to both the police and the mayor. Morelli's behavior is not good for the police department, and now there's a British citizen as well, maybe we could use that to make them realize they have to do something."

Tank sounded furious, and Bobby could see him looking at Annie over his shoulder. And when he had carried her out to the car he had been really gentle, Bobby thought. Bobby looked at Annie, and saw that she was looking back at Tank. And she didn't give the same signals of 'not interested' that he and Cal had gotten when they first met her.

They arrived at Rangeman and drove down into the garage. Hector parked close to the elevator, and Bobby got out of the car. When he got round the car Tank was already carrying Annie towards the elevator. Bobby met Hector´s eyes and they both raised one eyebrow a fraction.

Hector opened the door to the stairs.

" _I´m going to look at the film. I´ll be in my office."_ He then looked straight at Annie. "Good bye. I'll look at film, now."

"OK. I hope the quality will be good enough to give to the police. Thank you, Hector."

When they got into the elevator Annie looked down at the floor.

"This looks really clean; I believe you can let me walk by myself."

Tank gently put her down. Soon enough they were in the medical suite.

"If you take off your shirt, I'll have a look."

Tank had really dark skin, but it sure looked like he was blushing.

"Sorry. I'll come back in a while, with keys to an apartment."

"Thank you. I think I'm running out of steam, I'm really tired."

When the door closed behind Tank Annie took off the jacket and her shirt. Standing in only her bra she felt a bit exposed, but Bobby had obviously entered professional mode, and immediately examined her back. Annie had to move her limbs in various ways, and finally he declared that he also thought that she had strained something when she threw Morelli. Over the counter painkillers would most probably be enough, and he would be sure she got at heating pad.

"Do you need some painkillers tonight, or are you tired enough to go to sleep without them."

Annie put on her clothes and snuggled into the oversized jacket belonging to Tank.

"I'm definitely tired enough to sleep without any pills. But maybe I should have some for when I wake up."

Bobby gave her some, and then found a heating pad.

"Would you like something to eat or drink?"

"Thanks, but I'm ready to crash."

They opened the door to find Tank just about to knock on it.

"Oh. Hi. I´ve got your key."

Bobby couldn't help but smile, Tank was rarely flustered, but Annie made him seem like a bumbling teenager. He wiped of the smile immediately when he saw Tank looking at him.

"Find me when you're awake tomorrow", he said to Annie. "I´ll be in the medical suite, or otherwise everyone knows how to find me. Good night."

"Good night, and thanks for all the help, Bobby."

Bobby went back into the medical suite to give Tank uninterrupted possibilities to keep on putting his foot in mouth. He snickered to himself. He looked at his watch, but decided that there would be time to tell Cal in the morning. Probably Lester as well, it had been a long time since they had had the possibility to get one up on Tank. Not really since Lula, and that was a couple of years ago. Annie seemed a lot calmer, and frankly, a lot more intelligent. Teasing opportunities aside, he hoped Tank and Annie would find each other. Tank was worth a lot more than his dating history showed.

x x x

Outside Tank looked at Annie.

"I´ll show you where you'll stay. You must be really tired."

"I am. I didn't get anything with me either, I just ran. I don't even have my phone. And I really don't feel like going to work tomorrow, or rather, later today. I suppose I could call this extenuating circumstances."

Tank led her to the apartment, and opened the door. The lights were on. "The bedroom´s over there, and a small kitchenette here. There´s some supplies, tea and coffee and so on. The bathroom's over there, and should have the essentials, including toothbrush and toothpaste. There´s the phone, and if you dial 99 you'll get someone who can redirect the call to me or Bobby or anyone else. If you want to call out of the building just dial 00 before the number."

He went over to the bedroom door and opened it and looked inside.

"Ella, our housekeeper had some things in Stephanie´s size. They are backups, Stephanie hasn't worn them, and you're welcome to use them. There's even a pair of sneakers, that we really hope will fit you OK."

"I don't know how to thank you enough. You've really gone beyond with all your help."

Annie looked at Tank with tears hanging from her lashes, and he definitely didn't know what to do or say.

"Sorry, I´m not usually this emotional, but I'm really tired and it has been a lot to try to process."

She took a deep breath and started to turn around, when Tank hugged her.

"It's quite alright. As you said, it has happened a lot of things in just the last hours. And you kept everything together until the situation was under control. Not many people are that focused, you definitely don't have to excuse yourself."

He gave her a smile, and let her go.

"Good night, Annie. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Good night, Tank."

Annie went to the bathroom. She looked at the shower, but she was just too tired. She brushed her teeth, changed into the pajama set and fell asleep; she never remembered the heating pad.

x x x

The morning after she woke up to the sun shining in through the window. The curtains were open, and she tried to turn away. As she did she felt how stiff her back was. It hurt, and she slowly tried to get out of bed. She went to the bathroom, and after taking care of business she took a steaming shower, trying to warm up the stiff muscles. Going out of the bathroom she heard someone knocking on the door.

"Who is it?"

"It´s Ella. I've brought you some breakfast."

"Oh, please come in."

The door opened and a woman in her fifties came in.

"Good morning, dear. I´m Ella."

"Good morning, Ella. I´m Annie."

"I brought you breakfast, Annie. And I hope the clothes I left here yesterday will fit you. I usually keep spares for Stephanie, and you're about the same size, well you look a little taller and a little bit thinner. The boys said you had the same curls as Stephanie, so I found some untangling serum for your hair as well.

"I´ll just leave the breakfast. Please call if there's anything more I can help you with."

"Thank you very much, you're all very welcoming and helpful."

Annie went into the bedroom and searched through the clothes. There were clean underwear, with a sports bra, black yoga pants and a t-shirt, all in black. She couldn't help but smile, everyone at Rangeman, except for Ella, seemed to be entirely dressed in black all the time. She put on the clothes and then the black jacket belonging to Tank on the top. It was so long it nearly reached her knees, but very soft and comfy, and it smelled delicious. With the untangling serum she managed to comb through her hair, and then she went out to the kitchen. Ella had brought bagels, cream cheese, a fruit salad and plain yoghurt. Under a dome there was bacon and an omelet, but those she left, quite content with the rest of the food. On the tray there was also two thermos cups. When she pried off the lid she smiled – one cup held coffee, the other tea, and there was milk and sugar and some sliced lemons as well on the tray. She had just prepared a cup of tea with a little bit of milk when someone knocked on the door.

She went to the door and opened it. Outside was Tank.

"Good morning."

"Good morning."

"How are you feeling?"

"Much better. Some sleep, a long shower and then Ella came by with a delicious breakfast. I was just about to drink some tea. She brought both tea and coffee, so if you drink coffee you can have some."

"I´d like that, thanks."

They both say down by the breakfast counter, and Tank looked at the tray. Annie smiled at him.

"Have you had breakfast yet? I ate all the fruit and yoghurt, but there´s bacon and omelet, but they're probably quite cold now."

"Thanks, I've had breakfast already. Don´t you like bacon and omelet?"

"I'm un-British enough to not want a big breakfast. Besides I'm a vegetarian, so the bacon was not interesting at all."

"Oh, I'm sorry, if I had known I would've told Ella."

"It was a very good breakfast, and you couldn't have known about me being a vegetarian. It's quite alright."

They sat quiet for a while.

"We've looked at the film from the uniform camera. And the parking lot has a surveillance camera, that we could get footage from as well. We´ll give it to the police department today, if that is OK with you, I thought you might want to have a look at it before."

"I´d definitely like that. Just let me get some shoes on, and I´ll come with you."

She went into the bedroom and put on the shoes. The back smarted a little when she bent over, but not that much.

"Are the shoes the right size?"

"Not really. They're a size or two too big, but I'm happy to not have to walk around in just my socks."

Tank looked down.

"You must have tiny feet."

Annie laughed.

"Compared to yours, I´d say yes, but I suppose they´re proportionate for both of us."

Tank laughed and opened the door.

"Oh, the dishes. I better wash up."

"Ella will fetch them, she´s got a very efficient dishwasher."

"I don't like leaving a mess. I didn't even make the bed."

"Ella will do it, and you should take it easy with your back. Come on, we're going down to Hector´s floor to look at the footage."

"Bobby said I should see him in the morning, but the back feels OK, so I´ll go down there later."


	4. Information time and getting back home

**A big thank you to those have favourited/followed/reviewed this story!**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the plot and Annie. Even the title is borrowed from Van Morrison.**

 _ **Italics - Spanish**_

 **Some bad words, some violence, and fade into black sex-scenes, nothing too graphic.**

 **Chapter 4. Information time and getting back home**

Tank knocked at the door to Hector´s sanctum.

" _Enter."_

There was a lot of electronics in the room, but everything was very neat and clean. Hector was sitting at a table and looked up when they came in.

"Good morning, Hector."

"Good morning, Annie, Tank."

Tank gave him a nod, and Hector waved them over. He turned the screen towards them, and soon they could see the footage from the night before. It was a bit dark, but you could still see things clear enough. Annie saw herself running towards the door, the footage a little distorted through the glass, and a dark figure trying to catch up to her. When she had to stop to try to get the door open the man behind her grabbed her arm. Somehow she got a grip on his arm, and managed a flip. It looked quite impressive when he sailed towards the door and the camera. You could see the glass breaking, and then the footage continued inside, with Morelli lying on the floor. It must have been Hector´s camera, Annie thought, because most of the footage actually was of Morelli, and he had been the one standing guard over the police officer, while Tank mainly helped her.

"I've talked to the police department. They really want that film, and also said that they were done investigating your apartment. You can go back there today. You just have to go down to the police station to sign your report, and to collect your apartment keys. If you didn't feel up to the police station, Gazarra said we should call him, and he'll bring the key and papers here. He feels he owes you a favor; he really wants to see Morelli slap up against reality for once. Gazarra´s wife is Stephanie´s cousin, and beside that he and Steph have known each other since kindergarten."

"Is there any chance that I will run into Morelli at the station? I really don't want to see him."

"No. He spent the night at the hospital, and he'll be suspended from work. I´m not that thrilled that he´s not in jail waiting for a trial, but he definitely shouldn't be anywhere near the police station."

Hector muttered something in Spanish.

"You mean he´s already out?! What says he won't come looking for me again? It´s twice now, and he doesn't seem to get the fact that I'm not Stephanie. Or he doesn't care, he just keeps on calling me that creepy 'Cupcake". And he knows where I live!"

"Annie. Try to breathe. You're on your way to hyperventilating."

"Don't tell me to calm down! This is unbelievable. A police officer is harassing and stalking me and he just walks away after breaking and entering. I came here to get away from my ex, and now I'm in a new nightmare."

Annie started crying, great heaving sobs. Hector gave Tank a not so subtle kick on the leg and gave him a look and nodded towards Annie.

Tank awkwardly got to his feet. He pulled Annie into his arms and held her.

"It´s OK. He won't come near you again. I promise."

" _He won't come near her and live."_

Tank raised an eyebrow towards Hector after hearing that.

" _Don't try to pretend you won´t make sure he disappears if he comes after her again. And you're not the only one. Both to help Annie and Estefania or any other woman he´ll take to stalking again. He´s not right in his head."_

Tank gently tried to soothe Annie. His big hands stroked her back, and he made a rumbling wordless noise. Annie held on to his shirt for a while, then stepped back.

"I hate to feel this out of control. I´m sorry I screamed at you. And cried all over you."

"I´ll repeat it ´til you believe me, Annie. I think you´ve landed in a crazy situation, but you've got nothing to apologize for. Should I call Gazarra and ask him to come here to explain what´s happening?"

"Yes please. And I better make a phone call as well. I forgot to call and say I won´t come to work today."

Hector gave her a phone, and she made a quick call, explaining to the person on the other end that she would be back on Monday.

"I´ll take you to Brown so he can check your back. And I talked to Gazarra, he'll come over."

x x x

Bobby examined her back, and said that it ought to feel much better in a couple of days. The phone rang as Annie was putting on her shirt.

"Brown."

"OK."

He turned to Annie.

"That was Tank. Gazarra´s here, and I´ll take you down to the conference room."

They took the elevator down, and met Gazarra in the reception.

"If it´s OK with you Annie, I´d like to be updated as well," Tank said from behind her.

Annie did a small jump, she hadn't heard him.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"You have a light step with those big feet," she teased. "And yes, I'm OK with you sitting in."

"Bye, Annie. I´m going back up. See you around."

Annie gave Bobby a quick hug. "Thank you so much for the help. I don't know what would've happened if I didn't have you to call."

They moved to the conference room.

"Here are the papers with your testimony. Start with that, and sign if you're OK with it," Gazarra said.

Annie carefully read through the testimony.

"I'm OK with it."

She signed the papers, and gave them back to Gazarra.

"I'd like a copy."

"You´ll get one in the mail, but if Tank´s OK with it maybe he can get you a copy before I leave."

"I'll see to it," Tank said.

"And now to Morelli. Tank said he´d already told you that Morelli wasn't arrested. What I can do is advise you to file a restraining order, which basically means that he's not allowed to contact you, or be in your vicinity. Well, if they make that a legal decision in the court, of course. But I can't see any reason why they shouldn´t. I thought they would arrest him, or at least not let him out until he´d paid bail. But he's on suspension, and have to go to drug and alcohol counseling."

"Considering all that it seems a bit suspicious that he wasn't put away." Tank turned to Annie.

"Our lawyers will help you with the paperwork."

Gazarra gave her the apartment keys, and left after getting a copy of the testimony for Annie.

"Come on. I'll take you to your apartment."

Annie looked thoughtful.

"There is something strange with this."

She looked at Tank and gave him a smile.

"And yes, I´d like to go back to my apartment. Thank you for taking me. And thanks for everything else."

"You´re welcome."

x x x

When they arrived at the building they saw that the glass of the door already had been repaired.

"It looks like a nice building and neighborhood."

"I like it. I've rented an apartment for half a year; the resident is in California teaching at U.C.L.A. She´s not sure if it will be a permanent position, so she didn't want to move out until she´s certain."

She hesitated.

"You've helped me so much, and I feel like I'm using you and the company, but would you please follow me upstairs until I´ve checked the apartment?"

"Of course. I wasn't planning on just dropping you off in the parking lot."

Annie gave him a smile.

They got out of the car and went inside. The foyer was clean, and smelled faintly of a citrusy cleaner.

"Efficient," Tank said.

"Yes, it has always been clean and well maintained. I´m on the second floor, as you Americans say."

She made a small grimace.

"If I had been any higher up he´d caught me before I´d reached the door."

"And you could have thrown him down the stairs," Tank rumbled. "You did good, and I don't want you second guessing yourself."

They took the stairs. Annie went to the third door in the hallway. The sign on the door just said Ellis, Tank noted. Annie followed his gaze.

"Yes. I don't get much mail, and I haven't even put up a note with my name on it. That's another thing that bothers me. How did he know what apartment I was in?"

"He probably followed you without you noticing, and saw when the lights went on, and could guess in which apartment you were staying. And he wouldn't have been clued in by a note on the door, he doesn't even seem to know your name."

Annie opened the door to the apartment. Tank followed her inside.

"And that somehow makes it even creepier. He doesn't know who I am, or what my name is. I just have curly hair. Hopefully the police have checked if there are other women with this kind of hair that has been harassed."

Tank looked thoughtful.

"I´ll check with Gazarra. He´s been promoted now that Morelli´s on suspension, and frankly, I believe he´s a much better cop."

They checked the apartment, and everything looked OK, just some things slightly out of place.

Tank looked at the door and lock.

"I´d recommend a new lock, but I understand if you don't want to do that when you don't live here permanently. But I`ll help you with a door bolt. Then it won't be possible to force the door open, unless you splinter the whole thing. I´ve got one in the car, I´ll be right back."

He fetched the door bolt, and had it in place ten minutes later. He demonstrated it to Annie.

"How much do I owe you and Rangeman?"

"The door bolt´s just a spare one, and as for anything concerning Morelli it's on the house. We definitely owe that to Stephanie."

Annie silently looked at him for half a minute.

"I´ve been told that I have a problem with accepting gifts. I'd feel better if I at least could pay for the door bolt. And then maybe I could offer you dinner? I could return all the clothes and the shoes at the same time."

Tank hesitated.

"Would it be just a thank you-dinner? I´d like to take you out on a date if you…"

As dark as his skin was Annie could see a blush, as he stumbled on his words.

"I´d like that. But I meant it, I do want to thank you with a dinner."

"This will sound like a really dinosaur thing, but I wouldn't be comfortable with you paying."

"It does sound a bit old fashioned. But I think I have a solution; I´ll cook you dinner, and afterwards maybe we could go to the movies or something?"

"That sounds like a really good compromise. I´m working night shifts two more days."

"Then, would you like to come to dinner on Sunday?"

Tank gave her a big smile. "I'd love to. What time?"

"Did you want to go the movies?"

"I'm off work Sunday to Tuesday, how about you cook lunch, and then we'll see if we're going to the movies or to the park or anything else."

"Sounds good. See you on Sunday at one o'clock then."

They exchanged phone numbers, and then it was time for Tank to leave. They were both a bit awkward, and then Annie huffed a little, stood on her tiptoes and gave him a rather chaste kiss on the lips. Tank enveloped her in his arms and turned up the heat quite a bit.

"Yeah, see you on Sunday," he said with a grin and left. When he shut the door behind him Annie heard him say.

"Don't forget to engage the door bolt when you're at home."


	5. It s a date

**A big thank you to those have favourited/followed/reviewed this story!**

 **A short answer to guest reviewer JoanOver: I certainly hope that no person, police officer or not, could get away with the things Joe Morelli has done in the first chapters. It is to show that something is not right at the TPD, and that someone higher up is helping Morelli.**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the plot and Annie. Even the title is borrowed from Van Morrison.**

 _ **Italics - Spanish**_

 **Some bad words, some violence, and fade into black sex-scenes, nothing too graphic.**

 **Chapter 5. It´s a date**

On Sunday one minute before one o'clock Annie´s entry phone rang.

"Hello."

"It´s Tank."

"Come on up."

She buzzed him in, and went to the apartment door.

When the knock came she checked the peephole, and then opened, after disengaging the door bolt.

Tank was standing outside dressed in a pair of dark blue jeans and a cream sweater. He looked absolutely delicious, Annie thought.

"Hi. These are for you," and he gave a bouquet of mixed flowers, mainly in blue and white.

"Thank you, they look lovely. Come in. I'll just put them in a vase, but first…"

She stood on her toes again, to give him a welcome kiss.

Tank kissed her back, and then Annie went into the kitchen.

"Dinner's in the kitchen. Come on inside."

Tank followed her.

Annie was on her tiptoes again, reaching for a vase on one of the shelves in the kitchen cupboard.

"Let me help."

"Thanks. It would be a shame to get a crick in the neck for something like that," she teased.

Tank reached for the vase.

"Are there things you'd consider worth a crick in the neck?"

"Hopefully." Annie let her gaze slowly wander from his feet to his head.

A timer went off before anything else happened. Annie took out a dish from the oven, and put on the table. Tank put the flowers in the vase.

"Thanks." Annie gave him a smile and put the flowers on the table, after taking a small appreciative sniff.

"Mmmm. Please have a seat."

"Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Everything´s ready, and this isn´t a big kitchen, so I think the easiest way is if you sit down and I put the things on the table."

Tank sat down.

"Since I'm half British and all vegetarian I´ve made a vegetarian Shepherd's pie. I hope it´s OK."

"It smells delicious, and I'm sure it will taste as good."

They ate the pie, homemade bread and salad, while talking.

"You said you´re half British, what´s the other half?"

"Swedish. My mum is Swedish, and she moved to Britain after she met my dad on an international dentists´ conference. They started their own clinic, and had me rather late. I´m an only child. My parents are just now thinking of selling the clinic and retiring. Dad´s already seventy, and mum´s in her sixties."

"Did they want you to follow in their steps?"

"Probably, but they never pushed me. And it was quite obvious I wasn't interested. I´ve had my nose in a book since I was three years old. I was bilingual in English and Swedish, and then I learned French, German, Russian, Latin and ancient Greek. I can read quite a few more languages as well. Right now I'm in Trenton for a private collection of papyri, written in ancient Greek."

"Wow. My Spanish´s alright, and I speak some French, but that's it. Well, I can swear in quite a few more."

Annie laughed.

"There has been a few studies concerning languages, and most believe there is a genetic element if you're able to learn a lot or at least relatively fast. My maternal grandmother was a linguist, and spoke ten languages, and could read at least five more. Mum speaks four. Dad speaks English and passable French, that's all."

Annie cleared the table.

"Would you like some coffee with dessert?"

"I would like a pause so I have room for more, if that´s OK. Let me do the dishes in the meantime."

"OK, but I´d like to hear something about you as well. Where are you from?"

"Originally I grew up in Louisiana, but we moved out of there to Newark when I was ten. And even though I was big I got rid of my Southern drawl quickly, not to get picked on. I have a younger sister, who´s married with two kids. None of my parents are alive today. I have a bunch of cousins, but I´ve not met them since forever. I joined the Army when I was eighteen, and got out when I was twenty-eight."

Tank did the dishes, and Annie dried them and put them away.

"Thanks for the dinner, it was really good."

"I like to cook occasionally, but usually don't bother if it´s just me. So - coffee or tea?"

"I´d love some coffee."

"Maybe I should warn you. When it comes to coffee I´m Swedish, and for tea I´m English. Both tend to get quite strong."

"That sounds good."

They sat down and had coffee with dessert – a chocolate cake with fruit salad on the side, and whipped cream.

"If it´s OK with you I believe I need some fresh air after all this food. You´re a great cook, and it's been delicious, but I´ve eaten far too much."

"I´d like some fresh air as well. There´s a park nearby that's quite nice. I usually go there when I go out for a run."

"That sounds good."

x x x

The park was rather small, and there were just a few people, mostly families with small children, around. Annie and Tank strolled, and continued talking about themselves and also what Annie thought of Trenton.

"In some ways it's quite different, and in other ways I don't even think of the fact that I´m not in Europe. I appreciate the fact that most people are quite friendly when I ask them something. I suppose what Cal called my 'posh accent' makes it quite clear that I´m from somewhere else. But I've met people convinced that I'm American, they just can place my accent."

A ball came their way, and Annie easily kicked it back to the children playing.

"I used to play football. Not the American kind, but the one the rest of the world calls football."

Tank laughed.

"I´ve tried that one too, but was told that I was more built for the American variety. Were you any good?"

"Not good enough to be a pro, but I played in a team until I started at Cambridge, and then I played for the university´s A-team. I didn't have the time for it when I started on my PhD, so I quit."

"What position?"

"Goalie. If you think that you didn't have the right build for a football player, I can say that most women players today are more muscular than I ever could be. But I´m a good build for goalie, even though I could have been a bit taller."

Tank opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it again.

"What?" Annie said.

Tank looked flustered.

"I´m sorry. I didn't want to be disrespectful, and I couldn't word it the way I wanted it to sound."

"Try."

"You look like you have the perfect build."

"Thank you for the compliment. It didn't sound disrespectful at all, and I would like to return the compliment. And I see a bench over there under the tree where I would like to see if I can avoid a crick in the neck."

Tank had never been stupid, a bit quiet maybe, but never stupid. He instantly set course for the park bench, almost towing Annie behind him. Tank sat down on the bench, and pulled on Annie's hand until she sat down across his legs.

"Is this OK?"

"Let´s try it out."

It seemed it was the perfect position, because they sat there kissing for quite a while. When Annie shifted position she could feel an impressive bulge in Tank´s trousers.

"Sorry."

"I´m not. It´d been more awkward if I didn't have any effect on you."

"You definitely have an effect on me."

Annie gave him a small smile, and rubbed their noses together in an Eskimo kiss.

"How about the movies?"

"Good idea."

They went back to the parking lot, where Tank had parked his car. It was a red Corvette, and Annie looked appreciatively at it.

"Nice."

Tank smiled, and opened the door for her.

x x x

At the cinema they looked at the movies available.

"This could be something of an obstacle," Annie said. "To somewhat ease your fears, I don't want to see a chick flick, but I don't want to see anything too violent either. Horror movies and war movies are totally out."

They looked at the posters, and decided to see the new Marvel movie. Tank bought the tickets while Annie got them popcorn and sodas. When they went in to the cinema they found seats in the back, and settled in.

The movie was alright, and then they decided to eat at a small Indian restaurant Annie liked.

Afterwards Tank drove her home.

"I´ll just walk you to your door."

"I had a great time."

"Me too. And I´d like to go out with you again if you…."

Annie gave him a quick kiss.

"I´d like that. I'll be at work all day tomorrow, but if you call me we can hopefully find a time that works."

"I'll do that. I´ll check in with Gazarra as well, and try to find out if there's more going on."

Tank gave her a thorough kiss goodbye, and left.


	6. More information

**A big thank you to those have favourited/followed/reviewed this story!**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the plot and Annie. Even the title is borrowed from Van Morrison.**

 _ **Italics - Spanish**_

 **Some bad words, some violence, and fade into black sex-scenes, nothing too graphic.**

 **Chapter 6. More information**

On his way back home he got a call on his cellphone. It was Stephanie.

"Hi, Tank. I hear you've met someone."

"Brown and/or Santos should learn to keep their mouths shut."

"I won't reveal my source. Now spill!"

"Annie´s your lookalike from behind, and I met her when Morelli decided to visit her in her apartment. He was dead drunk, and helped himself inside. Scared her, but she managed to run away, and when he caught up to her she threw him good. Hector and I had been called in, and afterwards we took her to Haywood over the night. I brought her home and asked her out on a date."

"Talk about the Reader's Digest version. And what's this about Joe?"

"As I said, from behind Annie looks like you. Curly brown hair, about your height. From the front it's quite obvious she´s not you; she´s got brown eyes, a slimmer build and is a few years younger. But Morelli seems to have fixated on her. The first time was at the mall, when Brown and Cal helped her, and then she noticed someone following her around, and finally he broke into her apartment. And he keeps calling her Cupcake."

Tank waited for Steph to say something, but the other end was quiet, although he could hear her breathe.

"Steph?"

"I didn't know. I was hoping he would move on when I wasn't around. And now he´s…"

Tank could hear a sob.

"Please Steph. Tell me what happened. Annie has filed a restraining order against him, but I don't trust him, and something seems strange at the TPD. Considering that he's a police officer it seems reasonable that there would be more consequences than just a suspension and counseling. Hell, he isn't even officially demoted from officer, just on suspension."

Another sob.

"I'll call you back, Tank. Bye."

Tank swore under his breath and continued home.

When he got home he looked after his cats, and waited for a phone call. Finally his phone rang.

"Yo."

"Yo. Steph told me to call you," Ranger said.

Tank gave him a quick but thorough briefing of what had happened the last weeks, concerning Morelli.

"Fuck. I didn't see that happening," Ranger finally said.

"Spill."

"When I finally got my head out of my ass regarding Babe she and Morelli had been over for weeks. But really, their dysfunctional relationship was in its death throes even before I stepped up. Her mother continued to harass her about Morelli being the only man willing to put up with Steph, and when Edna died a few months earlier, her in-family support was non-existent.

"After Edna's funeral Morelli pressured Steph to move in with him, and her mother started to plan the wedding. Steph refused on both accounts, and both Helen and Morelli were less than nice, to put it mildly. I know you and the core team tried to be there for her, but you had a lot of things going on, with me on a mission, that cluster fuck in the Boston office and half of Rangeman Trenton sick in flu."

Tank made a displeased sound.

"If I had known Morelli…"

"Relax, man. Babe was in her favorite place – land of denial. She didn't want to see the situation for what it was. Without her grandmother she didn't have any support in her family. Her dad´s so dysfunctional it´s a wonder he can drive a cab and interact with his buddies. And her sister´s as caught up in being the perfect Burg wife as their mother."

Tank murmured something that could be interpreted as judgmental bitches, but it was in between clenched teeth, and not that audible.

"It all came crashing down around Stephanie the day before I came back. She hadn´t been to her parents for some weeks, and her mother kept calling her phone, and leaving messages. Unfortunately Steph ran into her at The Tasty Pastry, and Helen berated her loudly to all the nosy Burgites around. To get away from the situation Steph promised to come for dinner the same evening. And she specifically told Helen that if she commanded her presence because she wanted to spend time with and talk to her daughter - Helen´s words to Steph – Steph wanted it to just be her, Helen and Frank.

"When Steph arrived at six o'clock that night Frank had a 'boy´s night' at the club. It must have been the first time since their marriage Helen had gotten him out of the house at their normal dinner time. Steph of course got suspicious, but decided that she could sit down for dinner. It was a quiet meal, not a lot of 'Why me´s' from Helen. As Steph said, that should have gotten her even more suspicious. For dessert there was a pineapple upside-down-cake, which in Steph´s words tasted 'funny'.

"She woke up in Joe Morelli´s house, handcuffed to his bedpost. She wasn't wearing any clothes, and in the bed beside her lay Joe Morelli snoring and stinking drunk, buck naked."

"How the fuck is he still alive!" Tank roared.

"Babe," answered Ranger. "She begged me to let him live. I swear I at least was planning on shipping her mother of to some -stan, and I didn't plan on anyone ever finding any part of Morelli. The thing is, the dumb fucker hadn´t even taken her cell phone away from her. He had just dropped her clothes next to the bed, and she had her cell phone in one of her pockets. Just as she awoke, I happened to call her. I was standing inside her apartment, wondering where she was. She answered, and I was at Morelli's five minutes later.

"Before we got out of there I took some photos, mostly of Stephanie handcuffed to the bed, and of Morelli beside her. Then I punched him, and made sure that he´d piss blood for a couple of days, and cuffed him spread eagled to his bed. And I didn't put his cell phone within reaching distance. I swear that the only person in the world who could stop me from killing him is Babe, and she begged me to take her away from there. She also said she was sure he hadn't raped her while she was unconscious. Apparently he´d been too drunk, 'cause as she said, he wanted her pregnant, there was no way he´d put on a condom."

Ranger took a deep breath.

"I took Steph away with me to my house on the shore. We cleared up our relationship, decided that we were through with Trenton, did a blood test to see what Helen and Morelli had drugged Steph with, and sent them both the result of the blood test, some photos of Stephanie cuffed to his bed with him snoring beside her, and told them that copies were at my attorneys and in another undisclosed place, and if they ever came anywhere near Stephanie again we would press charges. Drugging, abducting and holding captive is a minimum prison sentence of five years in New Jersey. Also for the accomplice, we specifically told Helen."

"Why didn't you tell me? Or anyone else in the core team?"

"I wanted to, but Babe felt so ashamed, both that she had put up with Morelli for so long, for the fact that her mother had fooled her to even visit her family, and for the way Helen had acted. She was a wreck. I decided that the best thing I could do for her was to take her away from Trenton. Permanently. If I had thought that Morelli was a threat to anyone I´d taken care of him, but the reports from Trenton only mentioned that he had begun to drink heavily. Helen as well."

"I´m planning to speak to Gazarra tomorrow," Tank said. "The fact that Morelli´s become fixated at Annie more than a year after Steph moved makes me believe she´s not the first woman he has at the very least stalked."

Tank´s voice softened.

"How is Little girl?"

"She´s much better than when we first moved down here, but she still sees her psychologist every week. She´s had to face some tough truths about herself, her family, Morelli and also her relationship with me. And as much as we both love Stella, we hadn't planned on having a baby that soon, if ever. That has also been something world altering, albeit in a good way."

He paused.

"The christening is still planned for May seventh. Is there any chance that Stella´s godfather will be bringing a date? I've already arranged for the jet, you'll have company with Ella. Luis, Mary Lou and her family, plus Dougie, Mooner and Sally Sweet."

"Not Connie and Lula?"

"Let's just say that the time away has made it clear who are real friends, not just in it for the food and gossip. It´ll be quite small, we think that our wedding party was big enough."

Tank laughed.

"Maybe not the wedding, but definitely the party. I´ll see about bringing a date, I just met Annie three days ago!"

"When it´s the right person you just know. You may not be willing to admit it even to yourself, but you know."

"I hear you, man."

They hung up, and Tank made himself a cup of coffee. Drinking it he couldn't help but think of Annie, her coffee had definitely been better, and a lot stronger. He looked at his watch, and decided it wasn't too late to call her.

"Hello Tank."

"Hello Annie. Thanks for today."

"Thank you. And I totally forgot to give you the clothes and things I borrowed at Rangeman. But I'm thinking that maybe I´ll keep your jacket. It´s huge, but really comfortable."

Tank laughed.

"You're welcome to it. I´ve got more.

"I was wondering if you've time to meet me tomorrow after work. I´ve got some more intel on Morelli, and I'll also talk to Gazarra tomorrow. And of course I´d like to see you."

"I´d like to see you too. But this thing about Morelli sounds serious."

"I think it is, but as long as you engage the floor bolt when you're in the apartment and are cautious when out and about I honestly don't think you're in any danger. I`ll tell you more tomorrow."

"OK."

They decided that Tank should come and pick up Annie from work, and they´d decide where to go after that when they met.

"Good night."

"Good night, Tank. Thanks for calling."

When they hung up Tank decided he was too agitated to go to sleep easily, so he put on running clothes and shoes. An hour later he was home again, and after a hot shower he was tired enough to go to sleep.


	7. An ordinary Monday, part I

**A big thank you to those have favourited/followed/reviewed this story!**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the plot and Annie. Even the title is borrowed from Van Morrison.**

 _ **Italics - Spanish**_

 **Some bad words, some violence, and fade into black sex-scenes, nothing too graphic.**

 **Chapter 7. An ordinary Monday, part I**

The next day Annie felt a bit silly when she went to work. She usually walked, a brisk walk of about 30 minutes, but today she had called for a cab. The cab driver was an elderly man, who didn't talk after she had gotten in the car. She thanked him when she paid, and rang on the doorbell. The papyri she was studying was in a private home, in a big study. The owner, Ms. Anderson, was a rich elderly gentlewoman, quite eccentric, who lived in the big house with her cook, a butler and five cats. Only the butler was allowed in the study.

"Good morning, Ms. Morrison," the butler said.

"Good morning, Murillo."

Ms. Anderson was still sleeping, she usually slept late. Annie was let into the study, the butler asked if she wanted him to fetch the same papyri she had worked on the last time.

"Yes, thank you, Murillo. I hope I will be able to finish with at least one of the fragments today."

"Very good, Ms. Morrison."

Annie worked for five hours, only taking a quick cup of coffee at another table in the study. At one o'clock she decided to have lunch outside. The weather was quite warm for April, and she had enjoyed being outside in the park with Tank yesterday.

"Murillo. I´m going out for lunch, and will be back in about an hour, if that doesn't interfere with your plans."

"Very good, Ms. Morrison. That will fit in with my plans for the day."

Annie went to a nearby deli and bought a sandwich, and then went to the nearest park, quite a bit bigger than the one near her apartment. She was soon back in the study and continued her work.

x x x

Tank woke early and did a workout in his gym. It wasn't as well equipped as the one at Haywood, but worked just fine for days he didn't have to go over there. After a shower he ate a hearty breakfast, and then called police officer Gazarra´s number.

It went to voicemail, and he left a message. While he waited for Gazarra to call back Tank did some laundry and cleaned out the litter boxes.

While Tank folded the laundry his phone rang. No number was displayed.

"Hello."

"Hello, Tank. This is Gazarra."

"I'm at home."

"I was just wondering if you'd like to have lunch with me?"

Tank understood what Gazarra hinted at – he wasn't sure someone wasn't listening in.

"I´d like that. Why don't we meet at Haywood at twelve. Ella´s a great cook."

"See you there."

Both hung up, and Tank took a moment to consider what to do next. He then called Ranger.

"Yo."

"Yo. I´m meeting Gazarra for lunch at Haywood. He hinted at being overheard. Or at least not being sure of not being overheard."

"Make sure he leaves his cell phone outside, and check him for bugs before you enter the safe conference room."

"Yes, dad, I'll make sure to follow the usual procedure."

"Sorry. I´m a bit short on sleep. Stella´s got colic, and Steph´s still quite upset. Mostly at herself. I've called her psychologist for an extra session."

"It´s alright man. Go take care of your wife and daughter. I´ll give you a briefing when I've met Gazarra."

Tank checked the cats and then called in to Ella, and asked her to put lunch for two in the conference room.

"It´s more than fine with your usual fare, I just don't want to have to fight the others for our food."

"I'll see to it. No worries."

"Thank you, Ella."

Tank checked the time. He felt restless. It was still some time to lunch, but he could always fill it with paperwork. He decided to go to Haywood, although it was only half past ten.

When he arrived at Haywood he decided to talk to Hector. He found him in the electronics room.

" _Have you heard anything from your contacts?"_

" _Not from my contacts, but there are rumors going around the hookers on Stark Street. About a cop who´s very into curly haired women."_

" _I can´t believe this cluster fuck. Can you check if there's anyone willing to talk to a cop not involved in it?"_

" _I can check, but I don't believe I'll find someone."_

" _Then ask if they can leave information without talking directly to the police."_

" _Maybe you could ask Lula to help you?"_

" _I don't want to be anywhere near that backstabbing, lying, greedy…"_ Tank took a deep breath.

" _Let's just say I don't want to talk to her."_

" _I see."_

" _I´m meeting Gazarra at 1200 in the conference room. Could you come around and check him for bugs?"_

" _I'll be there."_

Tank left the electronics room and went by the medical suite.

"Brown. It seems to be a bigger issue with Morelli than we originally thought. Hector said there´s rumors on Stark Street that there´s a cop with an unhealthy obsession with curly haired women."

"Shit. Do we have anything more than rumors?"

"Not from Stark. And Hector didn't think any of the hookers would be willing to talk to the police. I´m meeting Gazarra in the conference room for lunch at 1200. He hinted over the phone that he wasn't sure if he had a secure phone. Hector will check both the phone and Gazarra himself."

"You want me there?"

"I don't think I need your help right now, but I´ll brief you afterwards. Oh, and I talked to Ranger and Steph yesterday. There's much more than they told us. I´ll tell you after I get the OK from them."

"Fuck! I knew there was more to it. Is Bomber OK?"

"I believe she´s getting there. Since Ranger got his act together they are solid, and he supports her 110%."

"Oh, one other thing," Bobby said. "How was your date?"

"None of your business."

"Will you at least tell me if Annie is free for an offer from a hot medic?"

"Keep your grubby paws away from her."

"It seems like you're doing alright then."

Tank didn´t condescend that with an answer. He checked the time and went towards the conference room.

x x x

When he arrived in the lobby it was five minutes to twelve, and Hector just came down the stairs after him. Today´s receptionist was Zero.

"When Gazarra arrives just beep him in. We're having a meeting in the conference room."

"Sure. Someone´s just parked a car outside, and I think it's him."

Gazarra was inside just a minute later. Tank took a look at him. He seemed to have lost some pounds the last months, and his muscles seemed more defined. Or maybe it was just how he looked out of uniform.

"Tank, Hector."

"Gazarra. Zero has a small locker for your cellphone. Standard procedure. Oh, and if you have a private one it goes in the locker as well."

"Certainly."

Gazarra took out two cellphones and laid them on the counter in front of Zero. No-one said anything out loud, but all looked at Hector, who just nodded.

"The conference room is over here," Tank continued.

They walked in that direction, but before they were at the door Hector came over with a handheld apparatus that he checked over Gazarra with.

" _Clean as far as I can tell. And I don't think they would use something so high-tech this would miss it."_

" _OK, thanks. Report if you find anything with his phones."_

Tank opened the door to the conference room. Inside were fresh sandwiches, a heater with soup, water bottles and a thermos of coffee and some fruit.

"Help yourself."

"Thanks."

When they both had food they started talking.

"First, I´ve tried to listen at the TPD, but apart from some jokes concerning Morelli being taken down twice by a woman who looks like she weighs about 120 pounds, no one's speaking. And Johnson from Internal Affairs seems to be sniffing around, but as usual they don't talk to anyone."

"Well, I´ve tried to listen around as well. And there are quite a few things bothering me. The biggest one is of course that Morelli is out, not even having to pay bail. And there´re rumors on Stark Street about a cop with an unhealthy interest in curly haired women. White women with curly brown hair."

"Shit."

"And as Annie said; it's been more than a year since Steph moved, what says that Annie is the first curly haired brunette he´s fixated on. You better check if there´re any police reports. And if there´re any reports on DUI, or drug deals, concerning Morelli. Be careful who you talk to, and I'm sure you're aware that a cell phone can be used to overhear conversations in the vicinity of the phone, even if it is off."

Gazarra sighed, loudly.

"If they have managed to silence even half of what you're insinuating this is someone high up."

"Oh, and have you heard any gossip about Morelli being found handcuffed to his own bed about one and a half year ago? Naked."

"Not even a whisper. The Burg would have spread that one like a wildfire."

"I wonder how he got away? Who helped him and didn´t tell anyone?"

"I suppose his family would keep silent. Well, at least his mother. His brother would've taken the chance to be seen as the better Morelli, and spread it. I honestly don't think that he has a key to Joe´s house either."

They ate in silence for a while, thinking.

"So, I´ll try to delicately poke around at the TPD, and also check in with the Burg gossip," Gazarra said. "A pity I can't talk to Helen Plum, she´s always the one who knows everything there is to know about everyone from the Burg."

"It wouldn't go amiss if you tried to get some gossip on her, Frank and Valerie and her family. There's something rotten about it all."

"What I´ve seen and heard is that Helen´s drinking problem is quite obvious nowadays. She´s been drinking for years, but after Steph left Trenton Helen hasn't been able to keep up the façade. I think Shirley mentioned that Valerie doesn't leave her kids there unless Frank specifically promises to be at home with them. And those visits are the times you can find Frank at home. He's driving the cab more shifts, and also spends more time at the club."

"I´ll try to see if the rumors about the cop and the curly haired brunettes can be verified. Oh, have you heard anything about the restriction order?"

"The restriction order´s in place. Morelli isn't allowed anywhere near Annie Morrison, or her home."

Gazarra stood.

"Thank´s for lunch. It was so good I'd be willing to come over again in, say three days?"

"Lunch Thursday 1200 sounds good."

Tank shook Gazarra´s hand.

"Thank you for coming over. I know Steph appreciates your work on this as well."

"I'd gladly do it for family, but this seems to be a bit bigger than that."

They went out into the reception, where Hector stood by the desk.

" _I happened to have more updated software for your private phone. Of course I couldn't tinker with your work phone, but there wasn't anything physically altered. I´d bet my money on it being done anyway."_

Gazarra looked a bit confused, so Tank repeated the facts in English.

"I see. Thank you, Hector."

Zero fetched the cell phones from a small locker. Gazarra could see that the locker was sound proofed.

"Thanks again for lunch, Tank. See you around."

"Bye, Gazarra."


	8. An ordinary Monday, part II

**A big thank you to those have favourited/followed/reviewed this story!**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the plot and Annie. Even the title is borrowed from Van Morrison.**

 _ **Italics - Spanish**_

 **Some bad words, some violence, and fade into black sex-scenes, nothing too graphic.**

 **Chapter 8. An ordinary Monday, part II**

Tank went up to his office and phoned Ranger. He gave a quick summary of what he and Gazarra had talked about, and what Hector had said about the rumors on Stark Street.

"I´m meeting Annie after her work later today. Would it be OK if I told her about what happened to Stephanie? I trust her. And I´d need to tell Brown as well. Santos is in Boston indefinitely, so I don't include him. And I´d prefer to at least be able to hint about some things to Gazarra. Hector as well, but he´d probably just kill Morelli."

Ranger was quiet for a while.

"I hear you. I´ll call you back in about an hour after I´ve talked to Steph."

They both hung up, and Tank decided to go down to the gym for a while. He needed to get an outlet for a lot of anger, and usually he thought better during and after a workout.

There were only a couple of men in the gym, and he just nodded at them before he went over and beat the shit out of the sandbag. Afterwards he was glistening with sweat, and he took a quick shower. He checked his watch. 58 minutes since he´d talked to Ranger. Two minutes later his phone rang.

"Yo."

"Yo. I've talked to Babe, and she's OK with you telling Annie and Brown. Concerning Gazarra she's afraid he'll do something stupid, like trying to beat the shit out of Morelli, so she's not certain it´d be a wise move to tell him. Honestly, I´m a bit unsure of that myself. And Hector we're both sure would kill him."

"I promise to rein Gazarra and Hector in, if I have to. And I don't know if I'll tell them everything, I just needed to know that I could tell them at least some of it. Gazarra needs to know Morelli´s been this unstable for quite a while."

"I agree. And I know you won't be gossiping. Just know that Steph´s still really upset about it all."

"Upset. Upset! Fuck you, she was kidnapped and almost raped. And he was assisted by her own mother. I´m not upset, I'm absolutely furious. I just hope Little girl will be able to deal with this, and I think it would be better for her to know why it happened, and that no one else will be subjected to Morelli."

"I hear you. And you know I wouldn't have let I be if I hadn't promised Steph."

Tank sighed. "I know."

"Babe said that her mother´s behavior is strange even considering the alcohol and the pressure to be as Burg as possible. Try to check on her."

"I will. I'll call you back when I have any news."

Tank went down to the electronics room, but Hector wasn't there. He didn´t want to leave any messages on the phone, so he went back up and wrote a short mail and sent him over the company's intranet. In the mail he asked Hector to check Helen Plum. He didn´t specify in what ways.

After another look on the watch Tank went to the medical suite. Bobby was in.

"I´ve some information you'll surely want to do something about after I've told you. Before I tell you anything you've got to promise me you won't act on it without permission from me, Ranger and Steph. If you can't make that promise, I won't be able to give you the information."

Bobby gave him a long look.

"Oh, and you can't tell anyone without Steph´s permission."

"And you think I need the information?"

"Definitely."

"I promise."

Tank told Bobby everything that Ranger had said.

"This is some sick shit. And I definitely want Morelli to disappear, and send Helen Plum to Siberia with only a toothbrush."

"I agree, but it's not our call. It´s Steph´s decision. And we hopefully can get enough evidence from Stark Street and from Annie to have him locked up. But there's something rotten at TPD as well. I've asked Hector to work the Helen Plum angle, and Gazarra´s trying to find out what's going on at the police.

"Now I'm out of here. I´m not officially working tomorrow, but I'll probably be in touch."

Tank went down to the garage. Before he drove away he called Annie.

"Would now be a good time to come and pick you up?"

"I´ll need to put the papyri away, but I could be ready in about fifteen minutes."

"Excellent, the drive over will take about that time. See you soon."

x x x

Fifteen minutes later Tank drove up to the townhouse at the same time that Annie came out of the door. She got in the car, and gave him a smile and a kiss.

"Hello."

"Hi. I got a recommendation for a restaurant with good vegetarian food if you want to eat out, or if you want take away we could eat at my house."

"I´d love to see your house. There´s a good thai place a couple of minutes away where we could get take away, if that´s OK."

"Sounds good. Just tell me how to drive there."

Half an hour later they got out of the car at Tank´s house. He opened the door after turning off the alarm.

"Well, this is me."

"I´d like a tour, but I'd rather eat when the food's still hot. Maybe you could show me around later."

"Sounds good to me. The kitchen´s over here, if that's OK."

"Of course. I fed you in my kitchen."

They ate and talked a bit about Annie´s research. The cats drifted into the kitchen and Annie couldn't help but laugh.

"They seem quite curious."

"Well, it's been quite some time since it wasn't just me around."

"Thanks for sharing your home with me, Tank. Have I told you about the cat I got when I was ten years old? It came from a shelter and had one and a half ear, half a tail and patrolled the whole neighborhood. My parents thought we´d come home from the shelter with a cute little kitten, not with this huge tom cat. It had been neutered at the shelter of course, and nobody could really tell how old it was. We had him for seven years. I named him Ulysses."

"Two of these are from a shelter, but I've had them since they were kittens. The third was a neighbor's, their daughter became allergic."

He gestured to the black and white cat.

"That´s Applejack, the neighbor's cat, and these are siblings from the shelter – Cinnamon and Ginger. Ginger´s the marmalade, of course."

Annie cuddled with the cats.

"I promised you the grand tour of the house."

Downstairs there was the kitchen, the laundry room and a sitting room and a guest toilet. Upstairs was the master bedroom, a bathroom, with a huge shower, a guest room and a study. Annie peaked at the bookshelves. Quite a lot of history and biographies, but definitely fiction as well, and quite a lot of fantasy.

"We have some overlapping interests," she smiled. "I also like Eric Flint´s alternate history series, and Raymond Feist."

She gave him a serious look.

"Now I think we should sit down and talk about Morelli. You look like you've got more information, and don't know how to tell me."

Tank gave her a disbelieving look.

"I´m quite good at reading people," Annie said. "Any chance for a cup of coffee or tea?"

They went back to the kitchen and made coffee, and drank it in the living room sofa.

"So, spill."

And Tank told the whole story for what felt like the tenth time, after first getting Annie to promise not to tell anyone.

When he had told it all he looked at Annie. She was definitely paler, her freckles stood out against her skin.

"This is more serious than I thought. There's no way he hasn´t got support from higher up at the police. And I definitely get why the prostitutes on Stark Street is afraid to report him."

"I agree. Right now we're trying some different angles. Gazarra handles the TPD, and we'll try to check out the Stark Street angle plus Helen Plum."

"It all seems like a bad movie. You know, good cop gone bad. And I don't want to sound so needy and frightened, but I really don't like that he knows where I live.

"By the way. I called the building´s supervisor yesterday, and told them about the break in. The police hadn't given them any details. The door to the apartment is the tenant's responsibility, but they promised to change the lock on the outer door. It will take a couple of days, since they have to get in touch with all the residents and give them new keys."

"I'd prefer if they had some extra security, but I know I'm biased considering my work," Tank said. "Please, promise me to have the door bolt engaged when you're in the apartment, and your cell phone with you whenever you go somewhere."

"I promise. It´s not like I want to run into him somewhere," Annie said with a shudder.

"Now I have a somewhat more technical question." She gave Tank a look from under her lashes.

"Yeah? Is it a question I can help you with?"

"I hope so. It concerns how to avoid getting a crick in my neck."

"Oh, that technical question," Tank said. "Well there are some different solutions to that…"

They spent quite some time testing different solutions.

Tank finally gave her a sweet kiss.

"Shall I take you home? I´d love it if you stayed the night, but this has been quite a whirlwind, so I understand if you want to wait."

"I´d love to stay the night."

Tank rose and easily lifted her up and carried her upstairs to the bedroom.


	9. Nothing messes up your Friday, part I

**A big thank you to those have favourited/followed/reviewed this story!**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the plot and Annie. Even the title is borrowed from Van Morrison.**

 _ **Italics - Spanish**_

 **Some bad words, some violence, and fade into black sex-scenes, nothing too graphic.**

 **Chapter 9. Nothing messes up your Friday like realizing it's only Tuesday, part I**

The next morning Annie woke up sweating. Tank had her plastered to his front, and the man felt like a furnace. She wiggled to get some space, but it only resulted in his arms getting tighter around her.

"Stop wiggling," he rumbled. His morning voice was deliciously dark, Annie thought.

"You're toasting me, could you please leave just a little air between us.

"Absolutely not." He gave her a quick kiss and then let her go. "I do need a bathroom break, but I expect you to be exactly where you are now when I get back."

"Oh yeah?"

"Oh yeah."

They had quite a satisfying morning, and were glad to discover that they both were morning persons. After a hearty breakfast Tank drove Annie to her apartment. The plan was that she would change clothes, and then he would drive her over to Ms. Anderson´s townhouse.

When Annie opened the apartment door she became rigid. Tank immediately moved in front of her. On the door mat he saw a cupcake decorated with sprinkles, under it was a paper with the word WHORE in big letters.

Tank immediately called Gazarra.

"We're at Annie's apartment. Someone has broken in again, and left a cupcake and a message. Of the one word variety."

"I'll be over. And I´ll make sure the apartment is thoroughly investigated."

Tank made another call.

" _It´s me. Someone´s broken in at Annie's apartment. They left a cupcake and a paper with the word 'whore'. We haven't gone inside, we're waiting for the police. Has Morelli´s car been in the neighborhood?"_

" _The trackers didn´t show any movement at all yesterday. But he probably got another car, or got someone to drive him. In fact; the Plum car´s been close by."_

" _I´ll call you back later."_

Tank turned to Annie.

"Sorry, I had to check out a couple of things."

He opened his arms, and just held her.

"I need to call Ms. Anderson. I'll be late today."

Annie made a quick call to the butler.

"Maybe we should close the door and go downstairs to let the police inside."

"Would you be OK with letting them in? I´d rather watch the door here, since we haven´t checked the inside of the apartment."

"Sure." She turned around.

"Annie, how are you? You're so quiet…"

"I think I'm just numb. We'll talk later."

Annie went downstairs, and waited by the door. Gazarra arrived after a couple of minutes.

"Hello, Ms. Morrison. How are you doing?"

"A bit numb, I suppose. Should I wait to let in any more people?"

"I´ll wait here with you, they'll be here soon. Can you tell me about it in the meantime?"

"Tank drove me home this morning, and when I opened the door to my apartment there was a cupcake on the doormat. Or rather there was a paper on the doormat, with the word WHORE written on it, and a cupcake on top of the paper. Pink frosting and sprinkles. It looked absolutely poisonous. The lock felt completely normal as well. I thought it would feel different when it had been tampered with, but I suppose that´s just a cliché from Agatha Christie-books."

"If the perpetrator knows how to open the lock, it doesn´t need to feel any different. Oh, here comes the team."

They let the team in, and went upstairs. Tank was still standing outside, talking on his phone.

"I´ll call you back later." He finished the call.

"Tank."

"Gazarra."

"Annie gave me her version, can you give me yours?"

Tank quickly corroborated everything Annie had said.

"We haven't been inside, so I don't know if there's more than what's on the doormat."

"We'll check. OK, it´s all yours," Gazarra said to the team.

"I'll walk you down," he said to Tank and Annie.

"Anything else?" Gazarra asked when they were out of earshot.

"Morelli´s car didn´t move all day yesterday. But the Plum car was just one street away last night around eight o´clock. And it was at Morelli's house half an hour before that."

"This is more and more fucked up," Gazarra said. "And I´ve checked at the station. There´re rumors about a DUI and Morelli, but nothing that´s on file. And I can't find any reports regarding curly haired brunettes.

"And the only gossip Shirley had regarded Kloughn. Steph´s sister´s husband," he explained to Annie. "Apparently he's been seen lunching with his secretary a lot, but if there's anything more than lunch, Shirley didn´t know."

"Considering that his last secretary was Valerie whom he got pregnant and married… Well, who knows," Tank said.

They said goodbye to Gazarra, and went to Tank´s car.

"What do you want to do, Annie? I can drive you to your work, or you could come with me to Haywood, or if there's anywhere else you´d like to go?"

"I don't think my work would be any good today. I´d like some clean clothes, and maybe a gym."

"Then we'll go to Haywood. Ella´s got clothes, and there's a gym. I need to talk to Hector and Brown as well."

x x x

At Haywood they first found Ella who gave Annie two sets of clothes, one for the gym.

"Tank said you're a vegetarian, I´ll make sure to make you something for lunch."

"Thanks Ella, I really appreciate all your help."

"You're quite welcome. I don't think I've ever seen Tank with a smile that lasts more than two seconds before."

Annie blushed faintly, and then gave Ella a small smile.

Tank and Annie went towards the gym.

"Here´s a small locker room for disabled people. We don't have any handicapped personnel right now. Or women, except for Ella, and she lives in house."

"Thanks. See you in the gym."

Since it was midmorning the gym was empty. They both started at the treadmills.

"I´ve got to talk to Brown and Hector later."

"Can I come with you, or do you want to talk to them in private?"

"You're welcome. I mean, this obviously concerns you."

They ran in silence for a while.

"I don't want to seem pushy, but would you like to stay at my house for a while? At least until we hear that they actually have locked Morelli up this time?"

"Please, either that or you could stay with me, but you have your cats, plus a much bigger bed."

"We'll drive by the apartment and pick up some of your things later."

Tank went over to the sand sack, and Annie tried some of the machines.

"You´ve got an impressive gym. Some machines I don't even know what they're for, and I go to a gym in town, plus I used to train quite a bit in Cambridge."

"Well, we're about forty men working here, with pretty strict physical demands, for example at least five hours of physical training each week. We need a good gym."

"I don´t complain," Annie smiled. "I´m benefitting from all your training."

Tank laughed. "Likewise, you´re quite fit. And now I'm ready to hit the shower before we go talk with Brown and Hector. You ready?"

"Absolutely. Ella even got me the hair serum."

Tank stood waiting outside the small locker room when Cal came by.

"Tank."

"Cal."

The door to the locker room opened and Annie came out.

"Hello, Annie! I didn´t know you were here."

"Hello, Cal. You can see it as the fortunate outcome of a less pleasant occurrence. Much the same thing as when I met you and Bobby at the mall."

"And is the less pleasant occurrence the same person´s doing?"

"Yes. Morelli broke into my apartment and left a message and a cupcake. At least we're pretty sure it´s Morelli."

"He what!?"

"We've already called in the police, and Tank and I are meeting Bobby and Hector."

Cal turned to Tank. "I´m in. When you go after him I'm coming along."

"Right now we're giving the TPD a chance to prove that they're able to handle it."

"And when they screw it up again I'm coming with you. This is non-negotiable."

Annie just looked at Cal. He was scary when he was this angry, and the flames around his skull tattoo flared red.

"Calm down. I promise to let you know if we go after him. If **you** promise to do as I say."

Cal looked at Tank, then at Annie.

"I promise."

x x x

Tank and Annie met Brown and Hector in the electronics room.

" _I've had trackers on both Morelli´s and Plum´s car. And also a bug on the Plum phone. I haven't found out if Helen´s got a cell phone, there isn't anyone listed on her. I suspect she´s got a burner phone, ´cause there wasn't any calls on the landline last night from Morelli."_

Tank turned to Annie to and started to explain.

"Oh, I got that. My Spanish isn't fluent, but good enough to understand that."

"You mean you've understood what Hector´s been talking about all the time?"

"Uhh, yeah. Is that a problem? I thought I said that I'm good at languages?"

"So when you listed which languages you speak, you only listed the ones you're totally fluent in?"

"Yes. I mean, I know French and Latin, there's not that big a step to understand Spanish. My pronunciation isn't perfect, but I know enough to get by."

"If you include the languages you think you're not fluent in, how many do you speak or understand then?"

"Oh, I get by in Danish and Norwegian and Spanish, understands Flemish and Icelandic, Romanian and Hungarian, Portuguese and Italian. I can read ancient Hebrew and Arabic, my cuneiform is so-so… What do you really want to know, Tank?"

"I suppose I wonder if you understood what Hector and I spoke about Morelli, and if we freaked you out."

"You mean when you talked about him disappearing? You sounded calm, so I thought I could at least talk to you before you or Hector did anything. And no, I was more freaked out about Morelli himself."

Annie stepped up to Tank and hugged him.

"I won't freak out when you talk about protecting me. Even if it is in Spanish. But maybe you should try another language if you don't want me to understand."

"Sounds like it would be difficult to find one, Annie," Bobby said.

"Oh, I don't know any modern East Asian or African languages. I've never gotten around to them. But now maybe I have an enticement."

She gave Tank a final hug and stepped back.

"But really, we have other things to talk about. We all suspect Morelli´s the one who broke into my apartment and left the cupcake and the message. When Gazarra reports back we'll know if there was more."

Bobby had been briefed by Hector before Annie and Tank came, but he was still angry.

"I think we´d better put a shadow on Helen Plum. Morelli´s more probable to spot us."

" _I'll try to place a tracker at least in Helen´s purses."_

"Is everyone convinced Stephanie´s father´s not involved?" Annie asked.

"I think the problem with Frank Plum is that he hasn´t been involved in much of anything ever since he came back from the military. That man is a walking advertisement for PTSD, and I don't think he´s ever gotten any help. He seems to coop by not really engage in anything. He drives the cab, watches TV and eats. Sometimes he meets up with some old buddies, but not that often," Bobby said.

Tank´s phone rang.

"Hi, it's Gazarra. How about lunch today?"

"Sounds good. Same place as last time."

They both hung up.


	10. Nothing messes up your Friday, part II

**A big thank you to those have favourited/followed/reviewed this story!**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the plot and Annie. Even the title is borrowed from Van Morrison.**

 _ **Italics - Spanish**_

 **Some bad words, some violence, and fade into black sex-scenes, nothing too graphic.**

 **Chapter 10. Nothing messes up your Friday like realizing it's only Tuesday, part II**

"It was Gazarra. He´s coming over. We'll eat lunch in the conference room. Hector, do you have anything else, for now? You´d better not speak to Gazarra about your electronics, he needs to be able to have a plausible deniability."

" _I´ll try to plant some more of my electronics. I won´t eat lunch with you, but I will help to scan Gazarra."_

"Thanks, Hector."

" _Yes, thank you, Hector. I really appreciate your help,"_ Annie said.

After a few more minutes trying to plan what to do, mostly regarding the Plums, Tank´s cell phone rang again.

"Yes."

"-"

"I'll be down in a minute."

Tank hung up.

"It was Zero at the desk. Gazarra´s here."

They all went down to the lobby. Hector made a quick scan, Gazarra left his cell phones with Zero, and after that Tank, Annie and Gazarra went into the conference room.

"Sorry, I'll just call Ella. I totally forgot that," Tank said.

While they waited for Ella Gazarra gave a quick summary of what they´d found at Annie's apartment.

"There was the message and cupcake on the doormat. Inside the apartment there was nothing disturbed in the living room or the kitchen. In the bedroom a bag of clothes were slashed, probably with a knife. The remains were put on the bed, and, well urinated on."

"You mean he pissed in my bed?! Or rather my landlord´s bed! Now they **must** have enough evidence, I mean there´s DNA. Oh, and the clothes. It must have been the ones I borrowed here at Haywood, and forgot to give you back, Tank."

"They have taken samples from the bed, the note was handwritten, and they think they have fingerprints as well. They just must be sure it´s new ones, not from the last time."

"'The last time.' Do you hear what you´re saying, officer? This is multiple breaking and entering, plus property damage. **This time.** Is he locked up now, or are you waiting for him to come back? And what about the restriction order?"

Annie was breathing hard, and Tank took her hand.

"I must say I agree, Gazarra. What are the TPD doing? Oh, and the clothes were spare clothes for Stephanie. Ella had worked her magic sewing machine and they all had the Rangeman logo on them. I suppose that got him even angrier. After all, the tracker says that the Plum car was parked two streets over for 45 minutes."

Gazarra sighed.

"The technicians promised me that the finds from the apartment would be processed ASAP. And I´ve put two rookies on asking the neighbors if they have seen anything, There weren't many people at home when the rookies went their round, so they'll continue tonight.

"Morelli is not locked up, but I´ll be meeting him at the police station at two o'clock. Unfortunately together with Johnson from Internal Affairs."

"And in who´s pocket is Johnson? This is one screwed up investigation."

"Johnson´s contacts are quite convoluted. I don't know if he's in anyone´s pocket, but then I didn´t think I would find myself in this situation."

There was a knock on the door, and Ella came in with a small food trolley.

"This is the vegetarian sandwiches, and the soup is vegetable. There´s also turkey and ham and cheese sandwiches on the other plates."

"Thank you, Ella, I really appreciate it."

"Oh," said Tank. "Do you still have your nephew working in that cleaning firm that has specialized in crime scenes?"

"Yes. Miguel´s still supplementing his income there while he's studying."

"Annie´s apartment needs to be cleaned, and the bed especially so. And the mattress needs to be replaced."

Tank turned to Annie.

"Do you know if your landlord's insurance will cover that until we get Morelli to pay for it?"

"I haven't got the foggiest. I have a supplementary insurance, but don't know what that will cover either."

"I'll call Miguel," Ella said. "And I can help if the firm is booked up."

"I´m very grateful Ella, but that's not the kind of work I´d like you to have to do. Obviously Morelli, or whoever was in the apartment, fouled the bed and all the things in it. Oh, and the clothes you so thoughtfully helped me with the other day."

Ella´s face got flushed. "You mean to say that he…"

She fell silent, but muttered something under her breath.

"I´ll go and call Miguel right now. Please, try to enjoy your meal."

They ate in silence for a couple of minutes.

"This is just for your ears, Gazarra. Annie will not be staying in the apartment for the next couple of days at least. We´ll place a camera at the door, plus some other things. I´ve already sent some men over. And I also think you need to know that I´ve spoken with Stephanie and Ranger. Morelli was…" He fell silent. "Let's just say that things were out of control then as well. I´m not able to give you any more details right now."

"I always thought that Steph moved away very suddenly. Even if she and Ranger finally got together, the move to Miami felt abrupt."

"No comments," Tank said.

"I won't push you – **this time**."

They ate the lunch, and briefly talked about different angles, but nothing concrete. Gazarra thanked for the lunch and was off to the station.

Ella came in.

"I've talked to Miguel. The firm can be there in half an hour if that works for you."

"Thanks a lot Ella."

Tank looked at Annie.

"Are you OK with going over there now? You could pick up some of your things, and we can let the firm inside the apartment."

"Yes, that sounds good. Thank you, Ella."

Ella collected the food trolley and left.

"By the way, how did the Rangeman-team get inside to set up the surveillance equipment? I still have my key, this time I didn´t leave it with the TPD."

"It wouldn't be much of a security firm if we couldn't get inside an apartment with standard locks. And I can assure you that if you were going back there right now it wouldn't be standard locks."

Annie gave him a look.

"I´m a thoroughly modern woman, but there's something about the protective vibe that gets me… Well, thanks."

She gave him a kiss, and they left for Annie's apartment.

x x x

When they got there Tank introduced her to two Rangemen she hadn't met before – Hal and Ram. Both fit the usual description, quite tall and seriously built. The only exception she´d seen was Hector, who definitely seemed able to take down people at least twice his size.

Annie shook their hands and said hello, then continued into the apartment. She went to the bedroom, shuddered at the sight of the bed, and then continued to the wardrobe where she quickly packed a bag with clothes for some days, and continued to the bathroom, where she packed the essentials. At the coat racket she picked up two pairs of shoes. Tank had stayed at the door and talked to Hal and Ram.

"Are you done?"

"I´ll just look for perishables in the refrigerator, and take out the garbage."

The entry phone rang, it was the cleaning firm, and they let them in.

As they stood in the stairwell, the neighbor two doors down arrived.

"Hello Annie, is there any problem?"

"Hello Bart. Yes, someone broke into the apartment yesterday evening."

"Really? I saw a man I didn´t recognize in the foyer yesterday. I was on my way to the gym, sometime around eight."

"Would you be able to recognize him in a lineup, or on a photo?" Annie asked.

"Oh, and this is Tank. Tank, this is Bart Stevens, my neighbor. He´s helped me find a gym, and we usually meet up there a couple of times every week."

Tank shook Bart´s hand.

"And I sure can see why you haven't had any time to go to the gym with me the last days," Bart said.

"Yes, and hands off. You´ve got Marvin, and I don't poach. I thought that was a two-way agreement," Annie teased.

"Well, when you put it like that… Teasing aside, Annie, I´ll try to help you identify the man from yesterday. He was about 6 feet, dark hair, brown eyes and a fine ass. Around 35 years, and probably Italian. And he looked drunk."

"Thank you, Bart. And I won´t come to the gym for the next days."

"I can see why", he said with a look at Tank. "Oh, do you know if there's been break-ins in more apartments?"

"I haven't heard anything, this one seems to be more stalker-ish." She shuddered.

"Oh, honey, that's not something to tease you about. Are you OK? Can I help you in any way?"

"Thank you, Bart. Not that I know of right now, but keep your eyes open, especially after the guy in the foyer. Oh, and you don't officially know that I´ve moved out for some days."

"You´ve got it." Bart gave her a quick hug. "Take care."

He nodded at Tank and went to his apartment.

Tank and Annie talked to the cleaning crew for a couple of minutes, and then they left the key with Miguel, who promised to leave it at Haywood. Tank took the bags and they left for his house.

"I´ll go nuts if I just wait around. Want to go for a run?" Annie asked.

"Absolutely."

They changed clothes and took off. An hour later they were back. After a joint shower with some extras thrown in they went down to the kitchen.

Annie smiled at Tank.

"The run was good, but I think the shower was better as de-stressing."

"I agree."

"Do you have any food at home? I brought the perishables, so we ought to be good for tonight."

They raided the refrigerator and had homemade lasagna with salad. For dessert there was ice cream. When they had put the dishes in the dishwasher there was a phone call.

Tank just said a few words before hanging up.

"It was Gazarra. He's coming over. I´ll let him in."

"All right. I'll put on some coffee."

"Ms. Morrison."

"Please, just call me Annie."

"Thanks, I'm Eddie."

They sat down at the kitchen table with their coffee. Gazarra took a sip and felt his eyes dilate.

"Sorry. Forgot to warn you. This is Swedish strength coffee," Tank laughed.

"More like industrial strength," Gazarra responded. "And I'm Italian."

"Anyway, I´ve talked to Morelli. He claims to not remember what he did last night. I took the opportunity to ask if he had driven his car, but suspiciously enough he was quite sure that he hadn't done that, even though he still claimed not remembering what he **had** done. When I showed him pictures from Annie's apartment he got agitated when he saw the cupcake and the message, but claimed he hadn't put them there. The DNA-result isn't ready yet, but the evidence ought to be solid. They have some fingerprints from the paper as well, but only partial, so there's about 70% accuracy. They hope to be able to get DNA from that as well. He had a solicitor with him, who had a hard time to get him to shut up. Johnson from Internal Affairs was there as well, but he didn´t say anything. Right now Morelli´s still not locked up, but the tests should come through in a couple of days. I've set it to high priority."

"Thank you, Gazarra," Tank said. "We really appreciate that you take the time to come over here and explain in person."

"Are we still on for lunch Thursday?"

"Yeah, Haywood at twelve. See you there."

They said goodbye, and Gazarra left.

"The fact that Morelli´s still not locked up seems as suspicious as ever," Annie said. "But right now I don't want to think about him at all."

"I believe I can help you to think of something else."

"Oh, I'm sure you can. Let's go upstairs."


	11. Keep calm - your week is halfway through

**A big thank you to those have favourited/followed/reviewed this story!**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the plot and Annie. Even the title is borrowed from Van Morrison.**

 _ **Italics - Spanish**_

 **Some bad words, some violence, and fade into black sex-scenes, nothing too graphic.**

 **Chapter 11. Wednesday – keep calm your week's halfway through**

The next morning Tank dropped Annie off at Ms. Anderson´s on his way to Haywood. They had an approximate time when he would pick her up, and would call each other if something came up. After a quick kiss goodbye Annie was soon seated with the papyri in the study, and she had a productive work day.

At Haywood Tank arrived in time for the morning meeting. There was nothing urgent, so afterwards he asked Hector and Bobby to stay.

There wasn't anything new on Morelli or Helen Plum, so they just decided to keep up the surveillance. Hector had been able to get inside the Plum house, and now had planted trackers in three pair of Helen Plum´s shoes and two of her hand bags. He hadn't found any cell phone in her purses, and hadn't had the time to search the whole house, especially considering that he had heard Frank Plum going to the bathroom. Hector had checked Frank´s phone, and had managed to install an app to monitor it.

The rest of the morning Tank had scheduled meetings, and he ate a quick lunch in the break room. In the afternoon he had a meeting with a prospective client, and grudgingly changed into a suit. The meeting went well, and he had a signed contract when he came back at half past two. Hector met him in the garage.

" _You better come with me. I have a huge lead on Helen Plum. And no, you don't have time to change clothes. And we better take a car that doesn't scream Rangeman."_

They both jumped into a blue Ford Focus. A rather dull car, but with much more hidden under the ordinary exterior. An ideal surveillance car, because it looked so boring.

" _She´s at the hotel at the east side of Newark. The one with rooms by the hour."_

" _Helen Plum? The most repressed woman possible?"_

Hector didn´t say anything, just drove efficiently towards Newark. Outside the hotel he picked up a camera with a gigantic lens.

" _You go inside and try to figure out who she's here with. I´ll try to find the room and maybe get some photos."_

Tank went inside, but even when offering a rather substantial tip to the man behind the desk he didn´t get any information.

He went out to the car again. Hector was nowhere to be seen, and he sat down in the passenger seat and put on a cap and tried to hide behind it. He had taken off his suit jacket and tie even before he went inside the hotel. Tank sat watching the hotel door, and after about half an hour he saw Helen Plum getting out of there and drive away in her car. Hector was still not there, so he stayed where he was, and in the rear view mirror saw another anonymous Rangeman car start to follow her.

After about ten minutes three persons had left the hotel, two women and one man. Tank didn´t recognize any of them. Another five minutes went by, and he sent a quick text to Annie and told her that he would be late. She had a key and the code to his house, but he asked her to please take a cab and not walk, and to stay inside until he got home. Morelli was still not taken into custody, when he had talked to Gazarra on his way back to Haywood after lunch.

He was looking away from the main entrance and saw a man leaving the hotel through the backdoor. At first he thought it was an employee, then he saw that the clothes looked too good for that. When the man changed directions towards a car parked on the other side of the lot he could see his face clearly, it was mayor Juniak, Frank Plum´s old friend. Before he had gotten in his car Hector was back beside Tank, and started their car and drove out of the parking lot before Juniak left it.

" _Was it Juniak Helen met up with?"_

" _It was. And I have some photos to prove how friendly they are."_

Tank silently contemplated that. Joe Juniak was a widower since a couple of years. A man in his late fifties, who had been the mayor in Trenton for almost seven years. There were rumors he´d be trying for senator, but they hadn´t been confirmed.

Hector turned around a corner and made a U-turn. When Juniak passed a couple of minutes later Hector eased the car out in the traffic and followed him. Juniak drove straight to the city hall in Trenton, and Hector and Tank returned to Haywood. They didn´t speak in the car.

" _Conference room in ten minutes,"_ said Tank. " _I´ll see who's here and can participate."_

On his way to the conference room Tank quickly texted Brown and Cal, and asked them to come to a meeting. He looked at the watch, five o´clock. He called Annie.

"Hi, have you left your work yet?"

"No. I´m about to call it a day though."

"We've had a breakthrough. I was wondering if you´d like to come over to Haywood. I could ask someone to pick you up."

"Sounds good, but I could just take a cab."

"I´d prefer to know who´s driving you. I´m getting a bit paranoid with Morelli still out and about."

"All right. Call me back with names and descriptions."

"Will do. Bye."

"Bye."

Tank passed the desk, where Vince was working, on his way to the conference room.

"Who´s the closest to this address? I need them to pick up Annie and drive her here."

"Woody and Zero. I´ll call them."

"Thanks. I´ll just call Annie back. And tell them to show her their identifications."

Tank made another quick call to Annie.

"And show her in as soon as she arrives," he told Vince, before he went into the room. Hector was already there, and Bobby and Cal soon arrived.

"OK. Hector report."

" _I put a tracker on the Plum car this weekend. Yesterday I managed to get one in Helen´s purse and some of her shoes as well. Today I could see that she took the car to buy groceries, and then she was at home and probably prepared lunch. Around two o'clock she got into the car again. I first thought she was only on her way to the hairdresser, which was what she told Frank on the phone. But we had a tail on her, and the trackers also showed her going to Newark, the motel at the east side with rooms to rent for the hour. I took the camera and decided to go there myself, and on my way out I met Tank and told him to come with me._

" _When we came to the motel the trackers showed roughly where she was, and I scouted out the area. In a room with torn blinds I could see Helen Plum and a man. I have the photos to prove it. Unfortunately I couldn't get close enough to hear them, but they seemed to disagree on something. Afterwards they left the room separately. Binkie and Eric tailed Helen, while Tank and I followed the man to his place of work, the city hall. Helen went to the hairdresser, and then home."_

"The city hall? Who was the man?" Cal asked.

"Joe Juniak."

Hector pulled up some photos on the screen, and at the same time there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Tank said.

Annie entered the room, and happened to see the screen first thing.

" _Please Hector, warn a girl, will you!"_

Hector looked startled, and then began to laugh.

" _I´m sorry, Annie, I didn´t intend for you to see that first thing, or maybe see it at all."_

Annie also began to laugh, and Tank, Bobby and Cal looked a bit surprised. Hector usually wasn't comfortable with people he´d just met, but obviously he and Annie were on good terms already.

Hector changed the photo to one where the persons had their clothes on.

"Wow," Bobby said. "I didn´t see that one coming."

"Don't worry," Annie quipped. "Hector probably has a photo of that as well."

Bobby just looked at her, and Cal began to laugh. Tank couldn't hold back his laugh either.

"Please, Annie. Don´t break Brown. You know he's an innocent medic."

"Oh, I'll be quiet then."

Bobby just looked at her, and then started to laugh as well.

"But seriously," Tank said. "Helen Plum is having an affair with the mayor. Her husband´s friend and Stephanie´s godfather."

"Oh," Annie said. "I don't recognize any of these people – with or without clothes."

Hector and Cal began to laugh again, and Bobby just shook his head.

"You think this has anything to do with Morelli?" Annie asked.

"Who knows. But it looks suspicious. Especially since Juniak was police commissioner before he became mayor. And Morelli´s boss," Bobby said.

"How long has he been mayor? And does anyone know if the affair between Helen Plum and Juniak is recent or long term?"

"He´s been the mayor for almost seven years. And there's rumors that he'll try for senator. His wife died a couple of years ago, maybe that´s when they started the affair, but we have to investigate it. I haven't heard any rumors or gossip about the two of them, and living in the Burg Helen Plum is a target for the neighborhood surveillance, just as everyone else living there," Tank said.

"Not to disparage you or Rangeman, but how much into the gossip loop of Trenton are you?"

"I'd say we're pretty updated, since we've tried to watch out for Stephanie. And Gazarra is definitely in the loop, and he didn´t mention anything about Juniak and Helen," Tank said.

"This is big," Cal said. "The shit will definitely hit the fan if this comes out."

"Big enough that Morelli has a hold on Juniak and Helen with it?"

"Definitely."

"Are the mayor and the present police commissioner friendly?"

" _She´s clever,"_ Hector said to Tank. " _And you're painting a picture that could explain a lot of things,"_ he added to Annie.

"I don't know if they're friends or not. I´m meeting Gazarra for lunch tomorrow, I´ll ask him then."

The meeting was closed soon after, and Tank and Annie ate at a small restaurant on their way to Tank´s house.

"I called my landlord today. She´s contacting her insurance company. And she´s just gotten word that her position at the UCLA will be permanent, so she won't come back to Trenton. I have four months left on the lease."

Tank opened his mouth, but Annie interrupted him.

"And as much as I love staying here with you that isn't a permanent solution. We've known each other for less than a week. I don't know where we´re heading, but I don't want to ruin any chances by moving too fast."

Tank gave her a quick kiss.

"I agree. But that doesn't mean I don't want you here."

"Don´t worry, I'll stay for the next days, and I sure hope to be able to come visit a lot even after that."

"I need to talk to Ranger."

"Go ahead. I´ll check on the cats, and put on some tea. Would you like some tea or coffee?"

"Tea, please."

Annie fed the cats, made tea and sat watching TV when Tank was finished with the phone call.

"Stephanie was totally floored, and can't remember her mother ever being alone with 'Uncle Joe'. But she had some very vague memories of her Grandmother speaking to Helen about a something concerning Val´s blood, and them being silent as soon as Stephanie came in the room."

"Are you implying that Frank´s not Stephanie´s sister´s father?"

"I´m saying it would be good to find out. And no, I don't know how right now."

"Why don't we sleep on it?"


	12. Friends and relations

**A big thank you to those have favourited/followed/reviewed this story!**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the plot and Annie. Even the title is borrowed from Van Morrison.**

 _ **Italics - Spanish**_

 **Some bad words, some violence, and fade into black sex-scenes, nothing too graphic.**

 **A shorter chapter, I know, but it was the best place for a break. And the next chapter will be a bit longer. Have a nice weekend!**

 **Chapter 12. Friends and relations**

The next morning Annie laughed sitting at the breakfast table.

"We've already got a routine for mornings."

"Mmm," Tank said. "And I'm very grateful you're a morning person. Otherwise we´d have problems."

He dropped her off at Ms. Anderson´s, and continued to Haywood. Sitting down at his computer he noticed a mail from Ranger. He quickly read it, and phoned him.

'I asked Rodriguez to help us. He apparently tag teamed with Hector, and found the blood groups of Helen, Frank and Valerie. I don't get the details, but they assure me that there's no way that Frank is Valerie´s biological father. Stephanie says that Frank most likely is her biological father, again something with blood groups," Ranger said.

"And Edna probably knew, if we consider the conversation Steph overheard."

"Most likely."

"Any recommendations, or orders, on how to proceed?"

"I´m afraid not. Both Steph and I are a bit shocked to be honest. Who could think this of the perfect, prim and proper Helen Plum. And we still don't get the connection to Morelli. I´d say you keep up the surveillance for now. Report back after you've talked to Gazarra."

"How much can I tell him?"

"Both Stephanie and I say that there's been too many secrets. Maybe this cluster fuck wouldn´t have happened without all the secrecy. Tell him as much as you need, but ask him not to broadcast it over the Burg."

"Will do. Call you back later."

After the call Tank leaned back in his chair. There was a knock on his door.

"Yeah."

Hector looked in through the door opening.

" _Good morning."_

" _Skip the 'good'. Any ideas how we should proceed?"_

" _We´ll try to get Juniak´s blood type today, to see if he can be Valerie's father. And we´ll keep the surveillance on Helen Plum. I managed to get a tracker on Juniak´s car as well."_

" _When do you sleep?"_

Hector laughed and left Tank. He sighed and plowed through paper work most of the morning. Around eleven he gave up and went down to the gym. Twelve o'clock he was fresh out of the shower and heading for the conference room. Hector came by and scanned Gazarra, who had already left his phones with today´s Rangeman at the desk, Ram.

x x x

Today Ella had made a salad, and Eddie looked at it suspiciously until he had tasted.

"Wow, I didn´t know you could get salad to taste like this."

"Ella is good at combining healthy and tasty. She even got Steph to eat salads occasionally.

Now, I´ve got a cluster fuck to tell you about. And it´s not to go round the `Burg. I don't want you to tell your wife, or your colleagues, unless they need it. And it really is need to know."

Then Tank gave Gazarra a concise summary of all that had happened or what they had learned since their meeting two days earlier. Gazarra just sat there, food forgotten.

"I´ve never heard as much as a hint that Helen Plum would have or had stepped out on Frank. And you know how efficient those 'Burg busybodies are at dredging up secrets."

"Yeah, that makes me think they haven´t had an uninterrupted affair for 35 years. Or maybe Juniak isn't Valerie´s father, and Helen had an affair with someone else who fathered Valerie, and then maybe Helen and Juniak is just these last years. I checked, he became a widower three years ago. And he and his wife had been married for longer than Frank and Helen, and they never had any children.

"Now to something else – how close are Juniak and the present police commissioner?"

"Yesterday I would had said that they aren't as close as for example Juniak and Frank, but now it seems I don't know anything."

"Is Morelli involved with any of these persons outside of what you´d consider normal for an employee for example?"

"I haven't seen any examples of that, well except for the fact that I never could figure out why Helen pressured Steph so hard to marry Joe, he never felt as that much of a catch, house or not."

"Maybe Morelli knew too much about Helen?"

"Maybe."

"You know how to reach me if you get any new leads or confirmations."

"I do. Lunch sometime next week? I'm off work on Monday, but works the rest of the week."

"Plan for lunch on Tuesday then. I´ll be in touch if there's any change in plans."

"Thanks for lunch, Tank. Oh, and the results from the DNA-tests etcetera should come tomorrow. Hopefully Morelli will be locked up then. Bye."

"Bye."

x x x

Tank detoured to the medical suite on his way back to his office.

"Brown, have you seen the blood groups round the Plum family?"

"Yeah, and Hector just gave me Juniak´s. He´s not Valerie's father either."

"Just a hunch, could you see if you can get Morelli Senior´s blood group."

"Joe´s father?"

"Yeah."

"He's been dead for a decade, but I'll see what I can do. Worst case we could try to get a sample from Joe. And since there´s a lot of people after his blood…"

"Very funny. Get back to me as soon as you know anything."

"Will do. How´s Annie? She´s landed right in the middle of this."

"She´s strong. I think her more emotional reactions has been less about Morelli and more about her ex. But her meeting with the American legal system hasn't impressed her."

"This cluster fuck has made **me** question the legal system, or at least some of the police in Trenton."

The rest of the day Tank worked at his desk. He glanced at his watch, and texted Annie to see if she was ready to call it a day. She texted back that she would be ready in half an hour. Tank finished up, and went to the electronics room on his way to the garage.

Hector was in there, working on a surveillance camera.

" _Anything special on Morelli, Plum or Juniak?"_

" _No, they all seem to be where they should, or at least their vehicles. We haven't found Morelli Sr´s blood group yet."_

" _Joe Morelli´s DNA was sampled for the break in at Annie's apartment..."_

" _Interesting. Of course I´d never try the security of the police."_

" _Of course."_

Tank picked up Annie, who was in a wonderful mood, having a breakthrough with one of the fragments.

They decided to go shopping and cook at home, instead of going out or buying take away.

Annie had found some imported beer that they drank with their meal.

"I don't like wine, but, sorry to say, the average American beer´s not that good. I agree with Monty Python. It´s like making love in a canoe – fucking close to water."

"I guess it's what you're used to. But I definitely agree that this tastes better than the average American beer."

"Would it be possible for me to use the Rangeman gym tomorrow? Otherwise I can use the one I´m a member of."

"You´re welcome to use the Rangeman gym. When would be the best time?"

"I thought we could go there in the morning, and afterwards I could take a cab to Ms. Anderson."

"Sounds like a plan. Maybe there's someone who could drop you off after the training."

"Thanks, but you can't use the company as a cab service for me. How do you feel about some stretching and cardio right now?"

"Sounds perfect."


	13. Past relations

**A big thank you to those have favourited/followed/reviewed this story!**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the plot and Annie. Even the title is borrowed from Van Morrison.**

 _ **Italics - Spanish**_

 **Some bad words, some violence, and fade into black sex-scenes, nothing too graphic.**

 **Chapter 13. Past relations**

The next morning they exercised in the gym, and Annie took a cab to Ms. Anderson. Tank was good at recognizing when he should push or back down. He´d decided to let Annie take a cab, and hopefully be able to convince her to be driven by Rangeman another time. He also hoped he´d be able to be a bit more relaxed when Morelli wasn´t out and about.

Tank had met Brown when he left the gym. The information regarding Morelli said that he and Valerie could be siblings. At least Morelli senior wasn't eliminated like the other candidates had been.

"Put a shadow on Valerie round lunch time. Maybe she'll stop at a fast food place and we could take her napkin. Or one of the kids´. Is that close enough to get an answer whether she and Morelli are siblings?"

"I think so. I´ll double check and get back to you."

Tank had a text a short while later. "It should be enough with one of the girls, so they don't have to keep the napkins separate, or know which person it belongs to. Just be sure not to contaminate it with DNA from one of the Rangemen."

Tank called Hal into his office.

"You're our in house expert on evidence gathering. I need you to get samples of either Valerie Plum´s or her daughter´s DNA. And without them noticing it. We have a preliminary plan where you could gather it on some napkins from a fast food place, but we don't know if they're heading for such a place at all."

"I´ve seen their car. If it's not newly cleaned, there ought to be enough things in there to get a DNA sample from a toy or maybe even a dropped pacifier. I´ll try it tonight."

"We also need samples of Joe Morelli´s DNA."

"There ought to be enough beer cans in the trash that it should be a simple job."

"Good. Leave the samples with Brown."

"Will do."

x x x

Tank had a lunch meeting at a posh restaurant, and he sighed when he changed into suit and tie. When he came to the restaurant the potential client had his wife with him. His much younger wife kept flirting with Tank, and when her husband excused himself to go to the restroom she launched an offensive.

"I´d like to meet you in private."

"I´m afraid that won't be possible, Mrs. Fraser."

"It´ll be possible if you want my husband's company as a customer."

"We're not that hard up for work, Mrs. Fraser."

"If you're refusing I´ll tell my husband you propositioned me. And we have several friends and acquaintances who are your customers I'll tell it to as well."

"Please do. And when you do, be sure to include the recording of this meeting. I can mail you the file either to your private email address, or your husband´s."

Mr. Fraser came back just a short while later, which was lucky, since the small talk at the table had dwindled.

Tank came back from the lunch meeting with a new contract, but he was in a foul mood. The rest of the day was planned to be routine work. He picked up his phone.

"Hi. I am in the mood to play hooky from work. Wanna come?"

"Absolutely. How about a picnic in the park? There's a good deli on this street."

"I´ll just find a blanket."

"Good, anything special you want from the deli?"

"I ate a posh lunch, with small portions, so buy more than you thought you´d need to."

"Alright. And the deli´s about half a block to the east on the same side as Ms. Anderson´s house."

"I'll be there in twenty minutes."

Tank called Ella and asked for a picnic-blanket.

"Would you like some food as well?"

"Thank you, but Annie said she'd buy some at the deli."

"I tried a new cookie-recipe, I´ll pack some of those. And a thermos of coffee."

"Thanks Ella, I really appreciate it."

"I miss cooking for Stephanie. I like your Annie. She eats a lot healthier than Stephanie, but I hope she´ll appreciate some cookies."

"I´m sure she will. I´ll be right up to fetch the blanket and cookies."

x x x

Tank parked at the curve just as Annie came out from the deli. He quickly helped her gather the shopping in the basket Ella had provided along with the blanket, coffee, cookies and picnic-utensils.

"An impromptu picnic sure is a lot easier if you have Ella. Hello by the way."

Annie gave Tank a kiss and he opened the door for her.

"Any special park you had in mind?"

"I've really only been in the one close to the apartment and the one near Ms. Anderson´s.. It hasn't been that good weather until some weeks ago. So I'd be happy to see another park in Trenton."

"OK, there´s one I like a couple of miles from here."

As they drove over Tank told about the lunch and the proposition from the client´s wife.

"Is that a usual occurrence?"

"More when we had Ranger here. But I suppose some women find the idea of a big African American exciting."

"I hope you don't think that´s why I…"

"Of course not! And the reverse is true as well. I didn´t ask you out because you're a beautiful younger woman. I admired your spunk and tenacity before I saw you without snot."

"Oh you!" Annie tried to give Tank a slap, but he caught her hand and gave it a kiss.

"Anyhow, we've had it as a protocol to record conversations during these meetings for some years now. Usually we don't need it, but sometimes we've brought them up when the client disagrees with what the contract says. Funny thing is they don´t disagree until sometime after they've signed it. I don't know if they think we're gullible, or if they don't read the contract until some time has passed since signing."

Tank parked at the park, and they found a spot in the sun. The sun was rather low on the horizon, so they began to eat at once.

They had quite a lot of food, and after eating most of it, Tank laid down on the blanket and they cuddled up.

"Thank you, that was quite a variety."

"You´re welcome."

They were silent for a while.

"You wanna talk about it? Your thoughts are so loud I can almost hear them."

"I guess it was your description of your client's wife and her propositioning you. I´m…"

She hesitated.

"In a way I think it's good that we moved so fast. I have a tendency to overthink things, and hesitate. And since my ex…"

"You haven't really told me about him."

"I think I´m still a bit ashamed. I felt so betrayed, and that I ought to have understood what kind of man he was a lot earlier.

"I was a prodigy in school, so I started Cambridge two years earlier than the average student. I didn´t have that many friends, mostly people from football, and some from study groups. And also Chris, my parents´ friends' son. We've known each other since we were in diapers, although he´s a couple of years older. He studied dentistry, and planned to work for his parents before taking over. Chris introduced me to one of his friends, Mike. Mike was there on a scholarship, also studying dentistry. He was charming, intelligent and good looking. I fell for him, and I had only ever had one boyfriend before. I was nineteen years old and thought the sun rose in Mike´s eyes. I took him home and introduced him to my parents, who were overjoyed that he studied dentistry. I also visited Mike´s family.

"About a year later I was at the library studying, and lost track of time. My cell phone was on soundless, and I worked until they closed. I was so happy, having a real breakthrough on a text. When I got home I was hungry and tired, and just made some sandwiches and went to bed. About an hour after I had fallen asleep I awoke to pounding on the door and a voice yelling. I was disoriented and sleepy, but opened the door. Outside was Mike, who accused me of being unfaithful, and he pushed me to the side to search my room. I was alone, and he begged for forgiveness. He had called my phone multiple times, but I´d forgotten to look at it after leaving the library.

"I forgave him, and now a vicious cycle started. He wanted to know where I was every minute of the day. He memorized my schedule, and could pop up on my study sessions, claiming he 'was just passing by'. And once he saw me give a friend a hug. My friend was depressed because his boyfriend had broken up with him. That night when I got home was the first time Mike was violent with me. He didn´t beat me, but he grabbed my arms so hard I couldn't move, and he shook me so my teeth rattled.

"I told him to get out, and he just laughed in my face, and said he´d leave when he felt like it, not when I told him to. When he finally left he said he'd be back.

"Chris called the next day and tried to apologize on behalf of Mike. I said it was over, and that I didn´t want to see Mike again. To get away from the drama, and to be able to study for my final exams I went home to my parents for a week. I blocked Mike´s number, but he sent me texts from other phones, and filled up my mailbox."

"What did your parents say?"

"They were furious that Mike had been able to deceive them. And they said that if he showed up again I should report him to the police.

"I went back to Cambridge to sit my exams. When I came out from the building Mike was there waiting for me. He had brought Chris 'to show me he was sincere in his apology'. I told him I was sincere in not ever wanting to see him again. When I said that he grabbed me, and shook me before pushing me away – right into a streetlamp, one of the old fashioned ones made of cast iron. I hit my head, and when I fell to the ground there was glass. I lost consciousness and woke up at the hospital with a severe concussion and a twenty-eight stitches long wound on my back. Chris was sitting beside my bed. He had called the ambulance and my parents. The police had also shown up, but Mike was gone by then. Chris was really sorry, because, Mike had not been interested in meeting Chris boring little childhood friend until Chris had told him about my parent's practice, the fact that I was a single child, and not interested in dentistry. Obviously Mike had thought I was a gift that would include his very own dental practice, a stay at home wife, just like his mother, and free shagging in the meantime.

"When I was out of the hospital Mike had lost his scholarship and left. I didn´t need to testify at the trial, he plead guilty. I don't know where he is, but I moved to a new place in Cambridge, quit football and raced through my Ph. D. I´ve only been on a couple of dates since Mike, and never had sex again before you. I don't know why you've broken through my shell, but you have. Usually I befriend gay men and spend my time either working, working out or being the listening ear when another of my friends´ relationships has gone down the drain."

"Annie, I think I got through your shell because I saw another human being that had been betrayed and was as lonely inside as I was. I´ve only ever been in two long term relationships, the first one didn´t survive me being in the army, and the second one was… I don't know how to describe it, but let´s just say I totally know the feeling of betrayal, and believing that you're not good enough or interesting enough as a person to keep the interest, but your belongings and wallet are. Since Lula a couple of years ago I´ve had two one night stands, but those felt so demeaning I just gave up on meeting someone.

"Until you."

"Until you."

They kissed, and Tank could taste the tears on her lips.

"Wanna go home?"

"Yeah."

At home they fed the cats, cuddled on the sofa in front of a movie neither of them could remember afterwards, before they went to bed.

"Do you want to…"

"Yes, I very much want to. I haven´t had sex for years, I hope you don't mind me working off some frustrations on you."

"You´re very welcome."

Afterwards Tank lay awake just rejoicing in feeling Annie mold her body against his, and hearing her breathe. He finally fell asleep, content.


	14. Back in the parkinglot

**A big thank you to those have favourited/followed/reviewed this story!**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the plot and Annie. Even the title is borrowed from Van Morrison.**

 _ **Italics - Spanish**_

 **Some bad words, some violence, and fade into black sex-scenes, nothing too graphic.**

 **Chapter 14. Back in the parking lot**

The next morning they stayed in bed celebrating that they had come clear with each other, then had a shower with more celebrating and finally got downstairs and ate a large breakfast. Tank saw that Gazarra had sent him a text, which said that Morelli would be in front of a judge on Monday at the latest.

"I need to wash some clothes," Annie said.

"I'll show you the laundry room."

They spent the time until lunch washing and cleaning, and had lunch sitting in the sun outside. Applejack cautiously took a small tour of the garden, but Cinnamon and Ginger stayed inside. Applejack returned inside quickly, and Annie and Tank took a tour in the small garden. It had a high fence and no trees near the fence. Tank explained the layout was the best for security.

One of the neighbors was outside and waved a hello, which they returned. Tank sighed.

"It´s not only the `Burg that has busybodies. I´m sure Mrs. Gonzales will have all the neighbors aware of the fact that I have a beautiful woman at my place."

"As long as that means she'll stop flirting with you I'm alright with that."

"Flirting?"

"Definitely flirting with you."

"She must be at least fifty."

"So what. You're an attractive man. I bet she´s usually outside whenever you're in the garden."

"Yes, but I thought that was because she´s always in the garden."

"Not well kept enough for that. The garden I mean."

"Stop teasing me."

"I will. But you´d make her day mowing the lawn in just your shorts."

Tank hesitated for half a second before he gave Annie a steaming kiss, and followed it up by hoisting her up his body and carrying her inside with a big hand under her bum, the other in her hair.

"What was that? Not that I'm complaining."

"Me telling Mrs. Gonzales I'm not on the market. Now hush."

"Good thing we changed the sheets."

"I said hush."

x x x

That night they went out to a restaurant with good vegetarian food.

"Since I've already shown my possessive streak with Mrs. Gonzalez, is there any chance we'll run into Lula?"

"As long as we eat in this type of restaurant I´d say this risk is minimal. She´s more Kentucky Fried Chicken or a steakhouse. Wanna go the movies?"

"Why not. And I'm still against war movies."

"And I'm still against chick flicks."

"Here's to finding a compromise movie."

At the cinema they could agree on a movie rather fast. Since they had just eaten Annie just bought two bottles of water. On their way into the auditorium they ran into Hal, who had a date with a tall blonde. They stayed and said hello, and Hal introduced the blonde as Nicole, a lab assistant. They exchanged a few polite words, and then went to different auditoriums. Annie looked over her shoulder and gave Tank a mischievous grin.

"They went to the chick flick."

"Well she looked tall enough to kiss him without a crick in the neck. Maybe Hal appreciates that so much he´s willing to see a chick flick."

"I see. I´ll let you see the movie undisturbed by any kisses that could give you neck problems then."

"It´s Hal who has had problems with his neck. Mine is fine."

Annie laughed and they sat down.

"If they get kids they'll be a shoo-in for the basketball team."

"Not if they inherit Hal´s ball control."

Annie laughed softly, and they watched the movie. With some kisses in between.

Obviously the chick flick was the same length as the movie they had seen. They ran into Hal and Nicole again in the foyer.

"How was your movie?"

"I liked it, but I don't think they had been outside the US making it, even though it should be scenes from Europe."

"You're from Europe?"

"Yes, and it sounds like you are as well."

"I'm half British, half Swedish."

"I´m from Germany."

Annie switched to rapid fire German, and Nicole answered. Tank and Hal patiently waited, not really eager to start a conversation between them.

"Sorry, it was just nice to talk German for a while."

"Yes, sorry. You really have an excellent German. It was nice talking to you."

"Nice talking to you too, Nicole. Bye Hal."

"Bye Annie, Tank."

"So, will he get lucky tonight?"

"You are crude man, Tank. And no, I don't think he'll get lucky. It was their first date. But here's the catch – she works as a lab assistant for TPD."

"That's dedication."

"I don't think he´d be that dedicated if she wasn't that good looking."

"I suppose you're right."

Annie yawned a little.

"Back home?"

"Yes, please. Someone in my vicinity´s keeping me up odd hours. Or maybe I´m keeping him up. I´m a bit tired anyway."

Tank laughed and put his arm over her shoulders and led her to the car. Back home they snuggled together and fell asleep. They woke when Annie´s phone started buzzing.

"Yeah."

"Oh."

"I see:"

"Thanks for calling, I´ll just have a quick word with Tank, please wait."

Annie turned to Tank.

"It´s Bart, my neighbor. He just came back, and he saw an unknown car in the parking lot. He recognized the person inside it as the man in the foyer the other day. I´d say the odds that it´s Morelli is pretty good."

"Please ask him just to observe from his apartment, not engage him. I don't know if he's armed. If he could continue to do that for maximum half an hour."

Annie repeated what Tank had said to Bart.

"And thank you, Bart."

Tank quickly dressed in an all-black Rangeman outfit. He called someone on the phone.

"Cal. Tank here. Morelli´s sitting in the parking lot outside Annie´s apartment. She´s not there, but I'm through with giving the TPD the chance to arrest him. They haven't so far, and he has a restraining order of being in the vicinity of her or her apartment. I'll pick you up outside Rangeman in seven minutes."

"I'll be there. And Hector as well if he's home. Otherwise he'll be pissed off at us for weeks."

Tank turned around and kissed Annie.

"I'll put on the alarm again when I'm out. Will you be OK here?"

"Yes. Go get the bastard, but don't kill him."

"Oh, I won't kill him. I'll just give him alternative accommodations for a while. "

It only took Tank, Cal and Hector half an hour until they had Morelli´s car back at his place and Morelli himself in a cell at Haywood.

"Check if Brown or Hal could take a DNA-sample. And other than that it's normal procedure for a drunk. A bucket, a bottle of water, no shoe strings, belt and so on."

"And we´ll have the surveillance camera as well, boss. Go back to Annie."

"OK, thanks."

Tank drove back to his house. He could see the light was on in the kitchen.

"Annie?"

"Tank. Everything go alright?"

"Yeah, he´s in a holding cell at Haywood. Officially we're not keeping him locked up, we just found him drunk in the street, and thought it would be better to have him under supervision so he didn´t die from asphyxiation.

"Oh, and can you call Bart? I didn´t have his number."

"He's already called me. He was impressed by how discreet you were. Even watching the parking lot he hardly saw anything. You want a cup of tea?"

"Only if I could have it with about half milk. Otherwise I won't be able to fall asleep."

"I told you it was British strength, and that´s usually with milk."

She gave him a mug with the tea doctored with milk, and Tank drank it slowly, feeling the tension drain out of him.

He looked at Annie.

"Would it be possible to have you a bit closer? I feel a bit tense still."

Annie immediately shifted onto his lap.

"Thanks for taking care of him."

"You don't need to thank me. I´m just hoping we can get him to open his mouth."

"Do you think he would talk to me?"

"I´m not sure. And there's no way that Ranger would allow Steph anywhere near him.

"Skype?"

"Maybe, that's an idea at least. Oh, and I´m not that keen on you anywhere near him, either."

"Me neither, but if we could get some answers…"

"We'll sleep on it."

Tank got up still with Annie in his arms.


	15. Withdrawal symptoms

**A big thank you to those have favourited/followed/reviewed this story!**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the plot and Annie. Even the title is borrowed from Van Morrison.**

 _ **Italics - Spanish**_

 **Some bad words, some violence, and fade into black sex-scenes, nothing too graphic.**

 **x x x**

 **Celebrating 100 reviews! Thank you all, and here comes a bonus posting.**

 **Chapter 15. Withdrawal symptoms**

In spite of all the excitement they both fell asleep and slept soundly through the night. Tank awoke around seven, and found Annie awake, lying close and just looking at him.

"Good morning."

"Good morning. I love your morning voice. It´s so deep I can feel the vibrations in your chest."

She gave him a quick kiss.

"Have you slept alright?"

"Oh yes, I just woke, and I spent the time admiring the scenery."

Tank laughed.

"I was thinking maybe we could go over to Haywood, and I could work out in the gym if you wanted to talk to Morelli," Annie said. "If that's OK with you, then I´ll just skip the shower for now and have a light breakfast before we go."

"Sounds like a plan. But I think I´ll work out some as well. I don't think he'll be easily awoken, or especially clear."

"Maybe that would be better for getting him to tell things."

"We´ll see."

After a light breakfast they drove over to Haywood. They met Brown in the gym, and he said he´d gotten the DNA sample from Morelli. And Hal had both gotten beer cans from Morelli´s trash can as well as tissues and napkins from the Kloughn car.

"Can we check it here?"

"I´m afraid not. At least not if we want it to stand up in court."

"If this comes up in court we'll have samples taken and processed in accordance with the legal system. This is just to get some quick answers."

"Why not ask if Nicole´s willing to work the tests here? Hal could tell her it´s for a small investigation, not what it's really about," Annie said.

"Who´s Nicole?" Bobby asked.

"Oh, we met them at cinema yesterday. She and Hal were on a date. And she works as a lab assistant on the TPD. If you have the equipment I´m sure she could do the tests. "

Annie looked at the clock on the wall.

"But maybe we should wait a bit, it's still early, and a Sunday."

They worked out in the gym. Tank took a quick shower and went back to talk to Annie.

"If you work out some more and take your time in the shower I´ll be back after I've checked Morelli."

"OK. See you later."

Since they were alone in the gym Tank gave her a quick kiss before he left.

He first went down to the surveillance room.

"Any news on Morelli?"

"Still asleep."

Zero pointed at one of the monitors.

"Zip and Woody had the night shift, and they said he didn´t move all night."

Tank left the room, and took up his phone. He called Ranger and gave him a brief summary of what had happened.

"So he was in the parking lot, although he´s scheduled for a hearing plus has a restraining order in place?"

"Yes. And the TPD doesn´t seem to be on their way to kick him out of the police either. He must have a hell of a handle on someone high up."

"Are you planning on interrogating him now?"

"I don't know. I don't know if it would be more effective leaving him there to sober up, or if I can get more answers when he's still half drunk and hungover."

Tank heard someone talk in the background.

"Steph says he's a mean drunk, and probably more likely to blurt something out if he's left alone for quite a while."

"OK, I'll do it that way then."

After talking to Ranger Tank called Hector.

" _Didn´t you see the tracker on Morelli´s car in Annie´s parking lot yesterday?"_

" _I did, but since she wasn't there, I thought I should let him do another break in, this time on camera."_

" _If there´s a next time, call when he´s in the parking lot. I don't want him pissing all over the place."_

" _Will do."_

" _Oh, and since you're living next door to Hal, is he awake yet?"_

" _I think he´s already in the gym. Heard the door about ten minutes ago."_

" _Thanks."_

Tank went back to the gym. Hal and a couple of other guys were in there working out.

"Morning."

"Morning, Tank. Annie left for the showers about five minutes ago."

"Good. I have another question for you. Would your friend Nicole be able to help us process the DNA-samples here at Rangeman? We have the equipment, but Brown wasn't comfortable running the tests."

"I can do them. I met Nicole when she spoke at a seminar about crime scenes and laboratory techniques last month. And when I ran into her at the TPD I asked her out."

"Good. Talk to Brown, he has the samples. I would appreciate it if you could do them as soon as possible. They don't need to be good enough to stand up in court, just good enough to say if Morelli and Valerie are siblings with a 90% accuracy."

"I'll do it as soon as I´m done in the gym."

"Good. And put the hours on your worksheet. It´s your free Sunday."

"If it can help getting Morelli busted I´d do it for free."

"Appreciate it, but this is work, so put the hours on your sheet."

"OK."

Tank went out and waited on Annie.

"How about some breakfast?"

"Sounds good."

"Ella´s got today off, so we're going out. Any preferences?"

"How about a pancake place?"

"Pancakes it is."

In the car Tank recapped his conversation with Ranger, and why they waited to talk to Morelli.

"Did they think it was a good idea to have me to talk to him?"

"I never asked. I`m not really comfortable with you in the same room as Morelli, but we can save it for later if we think it could be effective."

After breakfast they went back to Tank´s house. The weather was still beautiful, and they went outside. Applejack was still cautious, and the other cats remained inside.

"No Mrs. Gonzales," Annie smugly said.

"I'm convinced she'll be out gardening soon again."

"And I'm convinced the gardening will synchronize with your garden time."

"Then you better be over here a lot."

"I'll think about it. After all – what's in it for me?"

"What would you want?"

"I´ll take it into consideration and let you know. But probably something strenuous."

"I look forward to it."

"Oh, me too."

After all the pancakes they just had a sandwich for lunch, before returning to Haywood.

Zero had called about half an hour earlier, to tell them that Morelli was awake. He had begun shouting and pounding on the door. So far no one had made any contact with him.

At Haywood they met up with Brown.

"Hal is still working in the lab, but he did a preliminary test, that says Morelli and whoever the napkin belonged to definitely are related. How close is still a bit unclear, but at least a common ancestor three generations back."

"How´s Morelli?"

"A bit loud. He's got serious drinking problems, he seems to have withdrawal symptoms."

Tank looked at the time.

"OK, we picked him up about twelve hours ago, if he´s got withdrawal symptoms already I dare say he´s got a drinking problem."

"What's the plan?"

"I`ll talk to him, and try to get him to tell me what he knows about the mayor and the commissioner. And if he's done anything to get Helen Plum to support him. If there´s any opportunity I´ll try to talk about curly haired brunettes as well. Both Steph, Annie and the ones down at Stark Street."

"Quite a list. Good luck!"

Tank turned to Annie.

"I won't let you talk to him today. If you want to, Brown can take you to the electronics room, and ask Hector to show you the feed from the cell."

"Yes, please."

They left, and Tank went into Morelli´s cell.

Joe looked miserable, he was sweating heavily, and Tank could see his hands shaking.

"Morelli."

"What the fuck?! Get me out of here! I´m a police officer, and this is kidnapping!"

"You mean like when you drugged Stephanie Plum and took her to your house and handcuffed her to your bed? Naked.

"Oops, shouldn't have said that with Hector listening in. You know Hector, don´t you? Even Ranger has a healthy respect for him and his skills. Mostly his knife skills."

Morelli paled.

"I suppose I can keep him out of here for a while, at least. If you make it worth my time."

"Fuck off."

"You don't seem so convincing. How about you tell me why the TPD still has you on their payroll. You´ve been enough of an embarrassment for quite a while now. What information have you got on commissioner Ford?"

"Fuck off."

"Poor vocabulary. Anything else to add, before I let Hector in here? Oh, and incidentally, no one´s interested in where you are. We can keep you here indefinitely, and you sure won't get any booze."

"Let me out now!"

"You missed a fuck off somewhere. See you around."

Tank went out of the cell, and heard Morelli bellow behind the door. It sounded like he tried to pound or kick the door, but he knew it was solid and more likely to get Morelli hurt. He went to the electronics room.

" _Was that true? About him kidnapping Estephania?"_

" _It was. And you will not go near him until I tell you so. Steph even managed to get Ranger promise not to do anything to Morelli."_

" _I haven't given her any promises."_

" _No, but I need you to help both Steph and Annie, and the other women he has assaulted. I need more answers before we decide what to do with him. He's not alone, and we don't want someone else to go free just because you lost your temper."_

Hector took up his knife and threw it at a target at the wall, while swearing. He gave Tank a dark look.

" _I won't do anything right now. But don't withhold that kind of information from me again."_

" _I sincerely hope not to have this kind of information again."_

Tank turned to Annie.

"Ready to go? I'll leave Morelli to stew for some hours, maybe until tomorrow."

"Won't he be missed if he's not showing up at court tomorrow?"

"Who knows? They haven't been in a hurry to put him in front of a judge so far."

"And any evidence gotten this way probably won't stand up in court."

"We haven't done anything to him except locking him up to keep him from drinking."

"I don't think the judge or the police will look at it that way."

"Probably not," Tank agreed.

" _Let´s go. Come on Hector, I think you would be a good guide to the best Mexican restaurant in Trenton,"_ Annie said.

Hector just looked at her.

" _If you think I´ll leave you with that big a temptation think again. You need some time away from Haywood."_

Hector mumbled something under his breath, but stood up and put on his jacket, before he went over and got his knife from the target. He put it somewhere on his body.

"You want Mexican, Bobby?"

"Why not, it´ll probably be an interesting discussion at the table."

Hector did know a good Mexican restaurant, and it looked run down enough on the outside that they probably never would have gone inside without him.

They ordered food, and got their drinks. Hector gave Tank a cold look.

" _You better tell me what happened between Estephania and the cop."_

Tank told him, and emphasized that the story was not to come out at Rangeman or anywhere else in Trenton. He also pointed out that he himself hadn't gotten the story until this week.

The starters had arrived, and they continued talking after the waiter left.

"I say you have to talk to Helen Plum as well," Annie said. "There're a lot of threads connected to her. And honestly, no sane mother would allow her daughter to be kidnapped and taken away."

"I´m not sure sane is a good description, but I agree that Helen is in the middle of it," Bobby said.

"Should we confront her before getting back to Morelli?" Tank asked.

" _She won't let any of us inside the house,"_ Hector claimed.

"Maybe she'd talk to me," Annie said. "I don´t look especially intimidating."

The men looked at each other.

"She probably would," Tank agreed. "But I can't say I'm comfortable with it."

"And it´s Sunday night. Frank´s at home, and she couldn´t leave home without even him noticing and wondering."

"Ms. Anderson´s going away for a couple of days, and her butler is taking the time off, so I'd be able to talk to her tomorrow. Should I go to her home, or try to convince her to see me with a phone call?"

"I'd feel better if you weren't in her house. Who knows if she's still got what she drugged Steph with. I suppose she'll be pretty desperate, considering that her eldest daughter isn´t her husband´s, and now she´s having an affair."

"I wouldn´t accept any food or drink, but I also feel that it would be better not to meet her at her home turf. Any suggestions for places to meet her?"

" _According to the weather report the nice weather should hold for a couple of more days. Maybe outside in a park would be a good place. Then neither of you would have an obvious advantage or drawback. And of course we'll have some men there, plus camera and microphone on you."_

" _Let's consider it before we decide anything. And now we stop talking shop,"_ Tank said.

The waiter brought their main courses, and they ate and talked about travels they´d done.

Annie, raised by well off middle class parents had travelled extensively in Europe, but not so much anywhere else. Tank and Bobby had been out of country several times in the army, but not so much as civilians, and Hector had mostly travelled in Mexico.

The waiter came back and asked if they wanted dessert. The men looked at Annie.

" _Thanks, I'm quite content. And full. The food was really good."_

She looked at the Rangemen.

"But I don't mind if you want dessert."

Bobby laughed.

"I suppose we´re used to Steph´s eating habits. She thinks dessert is a food pyramid all on its own."

"Oh, I indulge occasionally, but not when I'm full to bursting already."

" _Thank you, Hector. It was an excellent choice of restaurant."_

" _You're welcome, Annie."_

After leaving the restaurant they drove back to Haywood to drop off Bobby and Hector, and check on Morelli.

Binkie and Manny was on the monitors, and said that Morelli was having withdrawal symptoms. They had given him another bottle of water, and a sandwich, which he hadn´t eaten. The food and water was distributed through the small opening in the door, and no one had talked to him.

"Take a fresh sandwich and more water to him, and then leave him alone for the night. And be sure to get the old sandwich and the empty bottles out before you give him a new."

Binkie looked at him and said:

"Yes, we'll be sure to follow procedure, Tank."

"Sorry. I know you know what to do, but this whole cluster fuck sets my nerves on edge."

x x x

Annie and Tank left for his house. They fed the cats and drank some tea in front of the TV.

"I was thinking about going back to the apartment tomorrow."

Tank did not say anything at first. He took a sip of tea, and put the mug on the table.

"I know we've discussed this, and I agree with what we decided, but it´ll be hard coming back to just the cats."

"Look at it this way, maybe we can hold on to the honeymoon phase a bit longer if we're not in each other's pockets all of the time. I mean, Tank, except for work we've rarely been away from each other more than an hour.

"And I´ve loved it, but I don't think it´s healthy in the long run. And I expect to see a lot of you for a long time to come."

"That´s under the heading: Discussion I've put off. What happens when you're done with Ms. Anderson´s papyri?"

"My working visa is for a year, that´s another nine months approximately. I haven´t anything else lined up, my plan is to write a book about Ms. Anderson´s papyri collection, and doing it at home in Cambridge. But there's nothing saying I couldn't do the writing in Trenton. But I´ll have to leave the apartment the last of August."

"I'm sure there's someone who'd be willing to put you up."

"Do you know of anyone?"

"I'll think it over and let you know."

He kissed her.

"And if you're leaving tomorrow we´d better spend the time well."


	16. A new week, new possibilities

**A big thank you to those have favourited/followed/reviewed this story!**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the plot and Annie. Even the title is borrowed from Van Morrison.**

 _ **Italics - Spanish**_

 **Some bad words, some violence, and fade into black sex-scenes, nothing too graphic.**

 **Chapter 16. A new week, new possibilities**

After breakfast the next morning Annie packed most of her things. Tank persuaded her to leave some. Then they decided to go to Haywood first, and make a plan on how to tackle Helen Plum.

They got a report on Morelli first. He still had withdrawal symptoms, but had eaten a sandwich, and drunk a lot of water.

"A week of this and maybe he'll be more coherent," Bobby said.

"We'll let him stew for at least some hours more. I want to see if we can get any answers from Mrs. Plum first."

Hector, Bobby, Cal and Hal were meeting Tank and Annie in the conference room.

" _Frank Plum has some steady customers, and he's already out driving his cab. Mondays he usually eats out, so Helen has an empty calendar until she needs to cook dinner."_

"I´ll try to call her and set up a meeting then. Where should we meet?"

"Tell her the park near your place. It´s quite small, and should be easy to supervise without being seen. And you can tell her you know her car was in the vicinity the other night, so she shouldn't have any problem finding her way…"

"Any tips on how I should persuade her to meet me?"

"Tell her you're a friend of a friend of Steph's, and that you want her help with a couple of things. If that´s not enough you could start dropping some names – Morelli senior, Valerie, Joe Morelli."

"OK, here we go."

Tank dialed the number and put her on speakerphone.

"This is Helen Plum speaking."

"Mrs. Plum. My name is Annie, and I´m a friend of a friend of your daughter Stephanie."

The silence on the other end was deafening.

"I have a couple of questions to ask you, and wonder if we could meet up?"

"I don't have time to meet unknown people."

"Oh, but we have some mutual acquaintances. For example Joe Morelli. I saw you were out driving with him last week. In fact you were quite close to where I live."

"What do you want?"

"I told you. I want to ask you a couple of questions. Eye to eye."

"If you´re not comfortable meeting me at my home or at a café maybe we could meet at the park a couple of blocks over from my apartment. How about two o´clock?"

"I'll be there."

"I think you´ll recognize me. I´ve been frequently told I look just like your daughter from a distance."

Helen hung up without saying a word.

"How rude."

"Great job, Annie. "

After a couple of minutes they could hear Hector´s bug in the kitchen picking up the sound of something being poured in a glass.

"Hope it isn't whisky before she gets in the car," Bobby said.

The next thing they could here over the microphone was Helen trying to phone Morelli´s cellphone. She swore when it went to voicemail.

"It´s Helen Plum. Call me back."

Over the microphone they could hear Helen pacing and mumbling to herself, but couldn't make out the words.

Then they could hear her picking up a phone again.

"Joe. It´s me. I had the strangest call just now. An Annie who claimed to be a friend of a friend of Steph´s. She wanted to meet me to get answers on a couple of questions. I said I´d be there, but I don't know what to do."

Since they hadn´t been able to find Helen´s cell phone they couldn't hear the answer from 'Joe', whom they all presumed to be Joe Juniak.

"In the park at the street near where she lives. And she said that she knew I´d been around last week with Joe Morelli."

"-"

"Yes, she said her name was Annie. And that people tell her she looks just like Steph from a distance."

"-"

"I'll meet her in the park at two o'clock."

"-"

"I see. Bye."

"Alright," Tank said. "We need two men who Helen won´t recognize in the park. Out of uniform. Camera and microphone on Annie."

"Maybe I should bring the test results you got, Hal. And a copy of one of Hector's photos. Preferably where you don't see too much skin, but where there's no doubt what they're doing or have done," Annie said.

"Sounds good. Any thoughts who should be in the park?"

"Mrs. Plum has seen all of us in here. Maybe Eric and Zip?"

"Sounds good. Send them up to me later, so I can give them their orders."

Tank and Annie ate their lunch in Tank´s office. Eric and Zip had been briefed, and Bobby and Hector had decided they should be in a parked van with surveillance equipment near the park.

Tank didn´t say anything. But Annie knew that he would be somewhere near the park.

"If you want to you can be in the apartment. Then you would be close by, and still out of sight. And you could drop me off there, and I can walk to the park. It would be consistent with my story."

"Sounds like a good idea."

He hesitated.

"Spit it out."

"I know I'm paranoid. Would you please wear a flak vest?"

"If it means that much to you, yes."

Half an hour later they were on their way over to Annie´s apartment. They brought up her things in the bag, and Tank had a laptop with the feed from the camera and microphone on Annie. They had hid both objects in her coat, and she had a flak vest under it.

"It´s not as uncomfortable as I feared, but the extra weight is a bit irritating."

"It'll only be for now."

Tank double checked the feed, and also checked with Hector that they had reception in the van. Eric and Zip had earphones, and they also reported that they got the audio.

"OK. This is it. Good luck."

Tank gave her a kiss, and Annie left for the park. She felt like someone was following her on the way over, and kept looking over her shoulder. After a couple of minutes she called Tank on her cell phone.

"Is there anyone else following me? It feels like there's someone there."

"I put Vince in a car, circling the park until you get there."

"OK, then I suppose it's him I'm picking up. Bye."

"Bye."


	17. Meeting Helen Plum

**A big thank you to those have favourited/followed/reviewed this story!**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the plot and Annie. Even the title is borrowed from Van Morrison.**

 _ **Italics - Spanish**_

 **Some bad words, some violence, and fade into black sex-scenes, nothing too graphic.**

 **Chapter 17. Meeting Helen Plum**

Annie was early, and was in the park ten minutes to two. She went over to a park bench and sat down. The bench was a lot more public than the one she and Tank had occupied.

Two minutes past two she saw Helen Plum entering the park. She looked around, and spotted Annie, who made a small wave with her hand.

"Hello Mrs. Plum. I´m Annie. Would you like to sit down, or would you prefer to go for a walk?"

"I´d prefer to walk."

They began a slow walk on a path going through the park. Some spring flowers were blooming in the flower beds.

"As you can hear Mrs. Plum, I´m not from around here. I came over from Europe for a specialized work since I`m proficient in ancient Greek.

"About a month ago I was on my way to the shopping mall. On my way inside the mall I was suddenly grabbed from behind, and a man I´d never seen before held me so hard I couldn't get away. He called me Cupcake."

Helen Plum didn´t say anything, but she paled, and Annie could see that her skin showed signs of too much alcohol consumption.

"A couple of men in black, whom I also never had met before, helped me, and my assailant disappeared. The men saw that I was scared and upset, and bought me coffee and told me a story of their friend Stephanie, who once upon a time had dated my assailant. When we separated I got a business card with the phone number to their company.

"I continued my work, and after about a week I got a strange feeling sometimes when I walked to and from my workplace. I felt like I was being watched, and the feeling intensified when I went out running in this very park a couple of nights later. I noticed a couple of different cars following me, and finally I got a look of the driver. It was the man who had grabbed me at the mall and called me Cupcake. The men who helped me had told me that his name was Joe Morelli, and that he was a police officer at Trenton PD.

"One night I went out for a run, and cut it short because I got that feeling of being watched. After I returned home to my apartment I showered, and while I was making myself a cup of tea afterwards I looked out over the building's parking lot. There was this car that looked just like the one following me around, and I could see there was a man sitting in it."

Helen Plum still said nothing, but obviously listened attentively.

"This made me so scared I called the number from the business card, and they promised to send someone right over. While I waited I tried to keep watch over the car in the parking lot. All of a sudden I heard a noise from the door to my apartment. I hid behind the door to the living room, and while I stood there a man picked the lock and managed the get the safety chain off and get into the apartment. He called for Cupcake with an increasing volume. When he had passed me and got into the bedroom I made a run for it. Just before I reached the door in the foyer I was grabbed from behind.

"Thankfully I got loose, and we called the police. The next day I was told that Joe Morelli was on suspension, and I got a restraining order on him. Nothing more. Otherwise breaking and entering usually at least gets you locked up until you post bail.

"Don't you find that strange, Mrs. Plum?"

"I really can't say. I´m not that well versed in the legal procedures."

"I thought it strange, but then again, I'm not from the US. But the men I met at the mall and the company they work for **are** well versed in the legal procedure, and they thought it strange.

"Anyway, I was a bit on edge the following days, and even took a cab to work instead of walking like I usually do. But in the middle of the fears and unpleasantness something good happened. I met and started dating a wonderful man at the security company. And after I spent the night at his place he drove me home, and being a gentleman he followed me up to the apartment."

Helen harrumphed when Annie used the word gentleman.

"Did you say anything Mrs. Plum? No?"

Helen just shook her head.

"When we opened the door there was a note on my doormat. It was quite crude, and on top of the note there was a cupcake. A pink cupcake. Again we called the police, who came and processed the apartment. Beside the note and the cupcake the person had destroyed some clothes and urinated on the bed. Of course this meant that it was possible to get DNA.

"Oh and the funny thing is I know **you** were in the vicinity of my apartment that very night. Driving Mr. Morelli."

Helen **still** didn´t say anything.

"Those incidents by themselves were enough to upset me. And then Joe Morelli **still** wasn't locked up, even though the police on both occasions had technicians processing my apartment.

"The security company started their own investigation. And found out more puzzling facts. Such as Morelli obviously hadn't done his job well for quite some time. He had a drinking problem, and as I had seen myself the night he broke into the apartment I was in, he didn´t hesitate to drink and drive. One of the men had contacts down at Stark Street who said that there was a cop who had a creepy obsession with curly haired brunettes. And then Stephanie Plum called from Miami."

Helen Plum took a side step, and became so pale Annie feared that she would pass out.

"I´m sure you're aware of the story she and her husband told us. I must say that the most surprising thing about it all is that you and Joe Morelli are still alive and in one piece."

"Are you threatening me?"

"Not at all. As I said, I am mostly surprised that Joe Morelli is still alive, not that **I** in any way plan to do anything to him outside of legal means.

"Maybe I should amend something. I really am surprised that Joe Morelli is still alive. But the most surprising, even shocking, thing I heard is that of a mother drugging her own daughter, and helping her assailant kidnap her. Not only exposing her daughter to the creep, but also any other women he has assaulted after that."

Annie looked at Helen Plum.

"There's a park bench over there. It looks like you'd better sit down, Mrs. Plum."

Annie helped her over to the bench.

"Considering the things we had heard, and how Joe Morelli **still** wasn't put in front of a judge even after two times breaking and entering, we started wondering what holds Joe Morelli had on at least you, police commissioner Ford and even his former boss, Joe Juniak."

Helen´s skin now had a pasty grey hue, and Annie was getting worried about her heart.

"Anything you can tell me, Mrs. Plum?"

Helen just shook her head.

"This weekend we were able to get a DNA sample from both one of your granddaughters and Joe Morelli. I can't say we were surprised by the results, since we obviously had some inklings, otherwise we wouldn't have made the tests. Is your oldest daughter and your husband aware of the fact that Frank Plum isn't her biological father? That she in reality is the half-sister of Joe Morelli?

"It must be quite a burden not having anyone to talk to, now that your mother passed away."

"You're lying!"

"About what? The parentage of your oldest daughter or it being hard not to have anyone to share your secret with? Or maybe you **do** have someone you can talk to? Like mayor Juniak?"

This time Helen´s skin wasn't pale anymore. It was flushed red with rage, and with a scream she attacked Annie, trying to scratch her face and eyes. The younger woman was a lot stronger even against Helen´s berserker rage, and held her in a firm grip.

"Calm down, Mrs. Plum. If you look around there's other people in the park, maybe even someone from the Burg."

It was like pouring a bucket of cold water over Mrs. Plum. She shrank back against the backrest like a ragdoll.

"Now I want some answers, Mrs. Plum."

"Frank doesn't know he isn't Valerie´s biological father. Joseph Morelli was already married, and I was young and stupid. I managed to convince Frank that Valerie was premature. Mother suspected, and when Valerie had been hurt in an accident they discussed giving her a blood transfusion. I knew that Frank´s blood wouldn't work, so I said that I didn´t want her to get any transfusions, pretending that I was afraid of contaminations from needles and such things. It was during the worst AIDS-hysteria, so I got away with it. And everything turned out OK, without the transfusion."

"You mean you didn´t let your daughter get a transfusion the doctors recommended because you were more afraid of **your reputation** than your daughter's health? Wow, maybe the kidnapping and drugging wasn't so out of character.

"How did Joe Morelli know?"

"His father told him we´d had an affair, and if you know it there´s some characteristic looks in the Morelli family that Val has."

"And Joe threatened to tell Frank?"

"Frank, Valerie and Steph. And he would have been a good match for Stephanie, a good position at work plus their own house."

"And so you pushed her towards Morelli, and she was so confused she allowed it for quite some time. Why is he so fixated on her? I mean, he stalked me and called me Cupcake, and we only have the hair and the build in common."

"I don't know. The Morelli family has a history of problems with addictions and mental issues. And he was quite obsessed with the fact that he was her first lover."

"And you pushed your daughter towards your other daughter´s half-brother. The mentally not very stable half-brother."

"He wasn't unstable or drinking then. If Stephanie just had married him he´d never be in this situation."

"Here I was prepared to feel sorry for you and your situation, but you really are making that hard. Don't you think it's up to your daughters whom to love and marry?"

"Stephanie´s only ever been an embarrassment to me. Valerie is married, has given me grandchildren and is raising them the proper way."

"And if I say it seems like her husband is having an affair?"

"So what. He finally has a steady income."

"Maybe you should give Valerie some advice that she could step out herself, I mean after all you've done it."

"You´re just bluffing."

"I´m afraid not, Mrs. Plum. We have the DNA evidence that your oldest daughter isn´t your husband's biological child, and we also have some photos from your meeting last week. You know that sleazy hotel on the east side of Newark? The one where not all the rooms have functioning blinds? As a matter of fact I happen to have a photo taken there last Wednesday. Ring any bells?"

Annie reached inside her shoulder bag and produced an envelope. She gave it to Mrs. Plum.

"There's two things in there – the photo and some results from the DNA-testing."

"And now I want to know what Morelli has on police commissioner Ford, how long you've been having an affair with the mayor, your husband´s friend and your youngest daughter's godfather."

"Or else?"

"Oh, I still have more copies of the photos in a secure place. Just like we still have photographs on when Morelli abducted Stephanie. That kidnapping is worth five years in prison, also for the accomplice. Obviously you value your standing in the Burg higher. I wonder what your ranking in the Burg will be when these photos and the fact that your eldest isn't your husband´s child hits the gossipmongers.

"If I were you, Mrs. Plum, I'd start talking."

"Obviously Joe Morelli knows about Valerie's parentage. And he found out about my affair with Joe Juniak about ten years ago. It gave him a promotion to detective."

"You mean you've been having an affair for at least ten years with your husband´s friend?"

"I don't think you´ve met my husband. He´s more zombie than man. He´s been that way ever since he came back from the army. We've hardly had sex since Stephanie was born. And Joe´s wife Mary was a cold fish."

"Usually you solve these problems with a divorce."

"I'm Catholic."

"I don't think adultery is a better solution in the eyes of the church."

"After Joe Morelli got a promotion to detective he gave Juniak the negatives. Of course we soon discovered he´d made a bunch of copies. Without those he´d been demoted a long time ago. He´s not an especially good detective, and was willing to take bribes in the form of money, sex and drugs. Juniak had to cover for him multiple times."

"How on earth did he go on to mayor if he had someone with that kind of dirt on him?"

"Morelli´s never been interested in politics, so he´s been mostly quiet since Joe became mayor."

"And why hasn't commissioner Ford kicked him out of the force?"

"Because Morelli had dirt on him as well. Photos from when Ford met up with prostitutes, and used drugs as well. Ford even used to vent to Juniak."

"I´ll give you an advice, Mrs. Plum. The shit is about to hit the fan. Come clear to you husband and daughter, so they don't have to hear it from some busybody."

"This is all your fault!"

"No, Mrs. Plum. **I** haven't committed adultery, lied to my husband and daughters or drugged and kidnapped someone. This is all your own doing. If you had had more backbone you wouldn't be in this situation. If Frank Plum loved you, you could have married him even though Valerie wasn't his biological child. And you could have had a good life without trying to interfere and run everybody else´s.

"And tell Joe Juniak that we have copies of the photos. We won't publish just to publish, but I don't think it would be good to have a senator that´s done the things he has to keep everything hush hush..

"Goodbye, Mrs. Plum."


	18. Aftermath

**A big thank you to those have favourited/followed/reviewed this story!**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the plot and Annie. Even the title is borrowed from Van Morrison.**

 _ **Italics - Spanish**_

 **Some bad words, some violence, and fade into black sex-scenes, nothing too graphic.**

 **Chapter 18. Aftermath**

Annie quickly walked away from the park. Meeting Mrs. Plum had given her a bad taste in her mouth. A car drove up beside her, and she looked at it suspiciously. The passenger lowered the window, and she saw it was Hector.

" _Get inside, there's someone following you in that blue car."_

Annie quickly jumped into the car, and they drove over to Haywood. When she jumped out of the car she saw Tank. He swooped in and lifted her up, giving her a big kiss.

"You were fantastic! I didn´t think you'd get her to admit to anything, but you played her like you were a professional interrogator."

Hector and Bobby came up behind the pair.

"I agree. You did a fantastic job."

" _Very good. And that is one twisted woman. I was ready to give her some sympathy because of the blackmail situation, but she couldn't own up to anything being her fault."_

"Let´s go to the conference room. I called Gazarra on my way over, he'll be here soon."

"Just please let me get out of the vest first. It´s a bit restricting."

When they came to the conference room Ella had been there with coffee, tea, sandwiches and a carrot cake with cream cheese-frosting.

Tank laughed.

"Ella really likes you, Annie. But she´s used to Stephanie and her sugar addiction, not a vegetarian. But this is quite a good middle way in spoiling you a bit."

"If it means cake I'm all for it. This looks delicious, and I need it after that conversation."

Hector set up the equipment, and everyone took a coffee and tea and something to eat. Gazarra arrived soon afterwards. Hector gave him a quick scan outside the room. And this time he found something. A small microphone had been pinned under the jacket's lapel.

Annie grabbed a pad.

'Should we pretend not to have found it, or just remove it?'

Aloud she said:

"Hi, Eddie. Coffee or tea?"

"Coffee, please."

"I believe it´s quite strong, I usually have a glass of water on the side."

In the meantime Tank wrote: 'I say we remove it. Eddie?'

Gazarra nodded.

Annie held up the pitcher of water, and gesticulated for Eddie to take off the jacket. She motioned with the pitcher towards the lapel, and lifted a questioning eyebrow.

In the background Brown had trouble keeping from laughing out loud.

Eddie nodded, and Annie poured water over the jacket.

"Oh, I´m so sorry. Take of the jacket and I'll try to dry it and your shirt. Or even better, ask Ella to help."

Hector picked of the microphone and dropped it inside the pitcher, which he proceeded to take out of the room.

When he closed the door behind him the room started laughing.

"Sorry, but that was a really bad fake apology-voice," Eddie said.

"I agree, but that was all I could come up with. I´m sure the person who put the bug on you will be very suspicious, but now there´s a tiny chance they´ll think you didn´t discover it."

"Annie. You do realize that we have contingency plans for those incidents, right?" Tank said.

She just looked at him with wide eyes.

"Eh. Not really? I think I still have an adrenaline high, and then I tend to think fast, but maybe not always clear."

"It was a good solution, otherwise I´d stopped you," Tank assured her.

"Oh, and here's your coffee. It´s American strength, you don't need any water with it." Annie handed Gazarra a mug, and they sat down around the table.

Hector came back into the room, and started to fiddle with the equipment.

"Quick recap," Tank said. "Annie called Helen Plum and asked for a meeting in the park. She said she was a friend of a friend of Steph's and also that she had seen Helen driving Joe Morelli last week. Helen agreed to the meeting. We're going to play the audio. Oh, and when Annie gives Helen an envelope, here's what's in it."

Hector started the recording. The quality of the sound was better than Annie had thought possible, and she started to listen. She tried to grab her mug to take a sip of her coffee, and looked at her shaking hand.

"Adrenaline crash," Bobby whispered in her ear. "I'm surprised you didn´t get one earlier. You're tough.

"Eat some cake and get a little sugar in your system."

He gave her a big piece of cake, and she managed to eat it while the audio played on.

Afterwards Eddie just sat staring in front of himself for a couple of minutes.

"What the fuck should I do now?

"Oh, and I totally forgot to tell you that Morelli didn´t show up for his hearing. And he wasn't at home."

"He´s in a private rehab, trying to get a grip on his drinking problem," Tank deadpanned.

"Rehab?"

"Yep, quite exclusive."

"Would I be able to get any information on where he´s hidden the blackmail-material?"

"Maybe later."

x x x

Gazarra left shortly afterwards. His jacket was still damp, and the bug was back in place.

"I know almost nothing about the legal procedure in the US. Is it Internal Affairs or FBI or someone else one turns to in this cases?"

"I'm no expert, but this is too big for Internal Affairs. And Juniak is a mayor now, that's out of the Internal Affairs jurisdiction. At least I think it is. So I suppose it's the FBI.

" _Hector, can you mail the audio to Ranger?"_

" _Of course. Oh, and Tank."_

" _Yeah?_

" _Someone was following Annie when she left the park. She definitely shouldn't be alone in her apartment."_

" _Who?"_

" _Not sure. Vince tailed, but they managed to lose him. Don't know if they were pro´s or just lucky, there was a collision just when Vince was almost close enough to get a look on the driver. The license plate was from the same car dealer where the police get their civilian cars."_

Tank sighed.

" _Anything on the bug?"_

" _Generic. Could be the police or some private person or a company. Middle of the line, OK sound, a bit big. And not resistant to being dunked in water."_

Hector grinned at Annie, who just smiled back.

" _You have some great instincts, and are able to think fast. Maybe you should change careers."_

" _Thanks, but no thanks. I'm quite content with my work."_

Tank looked at her.

"You seem a bit tired. Wanna go home? That is, to my house for a couple of more days."

"I love your house; you know that wasn't the issue."

"I know. I think take out as well. I´m not in the mood for cooking."

"Sounds good. How about Thai or Chinese?"

"I just need to check in on Morelli."

"Of course. I´ll stay here and irritate Bobby and Hector enough so that they´ll tell me embarrassing stories about you."

Tank sighed and shook his head, before he left.

"I think we´ll save that for another day," Bobby said. "How about I share the number to the best Chinese take-out restaurant?"

"You've got a deal," Annie said, valiantly trying to conceal her yawns.

They got the take away menu, and called in and ordered for Annie and what Bobby said would be some of Tank´s favorites. She knew enough of Tank´s tastes to not order some of Bobby´s suggestions.

Meanwhile Tank checked in with the staff in front of the monitors.

"Morelli´s status?"

"He´s mostly quiet. Has eaten two times today, and still drinks copious amounts of water. He still gets the shivers sometimes. Bobby has checked him over the monitors a couple of times."

"OK, we´ll let him stew some more. I´m leaving a bit early, you know how to reach me."

Tank went back and fetched Annie. They got the take out and ate at the house.

"I´m glad that the food was good. "

"You did a good job choosing dishes."

"Thanks. Bobby tried to make me order something that I thought you wouldn't like. He seemed a bit disappointed that I didn´t order it, so I think I caught him."

"Sounds very probable."

After they had put away the leftovers and put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher it was still early, but Annie yawned.

"Why don't you go to bed. I´ll just do some training in the basement gym, and I'll join you after a shower."

"Sounds good. I suppose it's a reaction after the stress."

"I must repeat that you did a stellar job. Now off to bed."

Annie just brushed her teeth and borrowed one of Tank´s t-shirts as a pajama and was out like a light after five minutes.

Tank did a thorough work out. He hadn't shown it to Annie, but he was really upset by Helen Plum and the callous way she had talked about her husband and her youngest daughter. Hell, she hadn't been that nice towards Valerie either. He needed to get some of that frustration out of the system.

He finished his workout at the sandbag, and was just pulling off his boxing gloves when the phone rang.

"Yo."

"We got the audio. Aside from all the vitriol and shit it contained I'm thoroughly impressed by Annie´s performance."

"So am I."

"What's the plan now?"

"We've still got Morelli in the basement at Haywood. We´d like to have his blackmail material. Also, we briefed Gazarra, and he's still thinking on what to do. Mostly whom he can trust, I suppose."

"I´ve got some contacts at the FBI that I know are clean. Tell him to call me. From a secure phone."

"Gazarra had a bug when he came to Haywood today. Hector found it during the scan. Unfortunately he couldn't say for sure who had planted it."

"Considering that you've got material on both the police commissioner and the mayor there are many interested parties."

"It´s mostly hearsay. The only proof we have against the mayor is adultery. Or maybe it isn't even that, I mean he's not married anymore. But I'm quite sure if it got known his political career would be over."

"Agreed. It seems that the golden goose right now is Morelli."

"Seems like it."

Tank was silent for a while.

"How´s Little girl?"

"Somehow it was a confirmation of all the shit she´s been through. And the part where Annie told Helen that she herself was responsible for her decisions and actions was priceless. Babe needed to hear that.

"I think in the long run it´ll do her good. It was pustule that needed lancing.

"Now go take care of your woman. And tell her that was first rate work she did today."

"Will do."

Tank took a shower and brushed his teeth. When he came to the bedroom Annie was asleep sprawled out in bed, and a streak of light gave her a halo. It felt like a physical blow to the gut, and he remembered what Ranger had said: When it's the right person you just know. You may not be willing to admit it even to yourself, but you know.

He silently climbed into bed and gathered Annie up in his arms. She cuddled up to him and made a content sound. Tank fell asleep holding her.


	19. Tuesday interlude

**A big thank you to those have favourited/followed/reviewed this story!**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the plot and Annie. Even the title is borrowed from Van Morrison.**

 _ **Italics - Spanish**_

 **Some bad words, some violence, and fade into black sex-scenes, nothing too graphic.**

 **Chapter 19. Tuesday interlude**

The next morning he awoke with Annie still in his arms. She was wiggling.

"I need the toilet. Please let go of me."

"Never. Not until you promise you´ll be back."

"I promise." She sealed the promise with a kiss, and made a speedy tour to the bathroom. She came back and cuddled up to him.

"I talked to Ranger last night. He said I should tell you that you did a first class job with Helen."

"How did Stephanie take it? I feel like I know her though we've never met, and her mother was one crazy bitch. Totally egotistic, and holier than thou."

"He said it was like lancing a pustule. Maybe she really can take in that her mother is the one who´s been wrong the whole time. We've told her that, of course, but here was even more evidence.

"I need to go to work today. And even though Morelli´s not out and about I'm not thrilled about the fact you were followed from the park yesterday."

"I have my laptop and some work things here, but I need some books and other things. Even though I'm not going to Ms. Anderson´s house I was planning to work a bit on one of the translations. I have a good photograph of the fragment on the computer. So if we just go by my apartment and pick up those things maybe you have a spare desk somewhere at Haywood where I can work?"

"Sounds like an excellent idea. But I believe I have an even better one."

Tank gave her a thorough kiss, and it was some time before they had showered and was dressed and ready for breakfast.

After picking up Annie´s things they continued to Haywood. Tank had an eye out for someone following them, but couldn't see any tail.

At Haywood Annie decided that she´d like to work at a desk in the electronics room, if that was OK with Hector. He happily agreed, and Tank proceeded to his office. After checking in with Bobby to hear how Morelli was – nothing new – Tank worked on the accumulated paper work for three hours. He called down to Annie and they met up and had a sandwich and a cup of coffee. She then returned to her work, and Tank took a deep breath and went down to the basement.

He went into Morelli´s cell, making sure it was locked, and that there were a guard outside and that the cameras were on.

"Morelli," he said.

Obviously the detox had done some good to Morelli. He wasn't shouting, and seemed relatively calm.

"Want to get out of here?"

No answer.

"We've talked to Helen Plum. She said that you had some photos that mayor Juniak had paid for. We're also interested in your photos of police commissioner Ford. If you tell us how to get these we're willing to let you out of here."

Morelli continued his silence.

"Well, see you around. When you're willing to make a deal just say it out loud, I´m sure the microphones will catch it."

He left the cell.

Bobby was standing outside.

"He´s starting to smell a bit rank, otherwise he seems alright. Better than the last times I've seen him," Tank said.

"Keep giving him water and food. Try to space it out unevenly. Loss of time sense can be upsetting."

"Will do."

"And I suppose we could give him a shower in a couple of days."

Tank continued working at the desk, and checked the work calendar. Tomorrow he would have three meetings with potential clients. He couldn't help but think of Mrs. Fraser, and shuddered. There was a knock on his door.

"Yes."

The door opened and Annie looked inside.

He gave her a big smile.

"You're a sight for sore eyes."

"Likewise, I really like the view." Annie gave him a smile.

"I´ve made quite a dent in the translation. But now I feel like my head is ready to explode. Hector said he was off now, and asked if I wanted to have a late lunch with him, and he also promised to show me some shopping places he likes."

"You´ve made a real impression on him, I don't think I've ever heard about him shop anything besides electronics."

"Maybe that´s where we're heading." Annie came inside and went over to Tank and gave him a kiss.

"Are you OK with me and Hector leaving."

"Absolutely. You´ve chosen the one man here I can´t be jealous of, and besides is a most capable bodyguard."

"I'm considering if I should set him up with Ms. Anderson's butler, but I think Hector is too intense for Murillo. Maybe Bart. He and Marvin probably won't last much longer."

"Please let me know the outcome."

Annie just laughed.

"Honestly. I´m not against introducing people to each other, but I'm not into matchmaking. It´s up to the individuals if they want to meet up, not me. See you."

She gave him another kiss and was out of the office. Tank looked at the paperwork and all the mail on the computer and sighed. He worked for another hour, before he got something to eat from the kitchen and went back to his desk. Several hours later he heard laughter outside his door. He looked at the time, and decided that it definitely was time to call it a day.

He powered off the laptop and got his jacket. When he opened the door Annie was standing outside talking and laughing with Hector and Cal.

Her whole face lit up when she saw him. There was that punch to his gut again, he thought.

"So, did you find any interesting electronics to buy?"

"We definitely found interesting things," Annie answered.

She turned to Hector.

" _Thank you for today, Hector! I really appreciate all the help and your company."_

" _You're very welcome."_

" _Thank you for keeping an eye open,"_ Tank said.

He turned to Annie.

"Ready to go home?"

"Definitely. I'll just pick up my bags."

Tank had expected something from the mall, but it looked like groceries.

"Hector knew some really good markets."

Tank carried it down to the garage, and they went back to the house. They prepared the food together, and took their time eating and enjoying it. Afterwards they cuddled up on the sofa. Annie laid down and put her head in Tank´s lap. She soon had two cats on her stomach, purring loudly. Applejack looked a bit jealous, and then laid down on one of Tank´s broad shoulders.

"This would have been one great photo, if we´d been able to capture it."

Tank laughed at her, and carefully combed his fingers through her hair.

"Keep up the good work, and you'll soon hear me purr as well. And please, no pussy jokes."

"I´ve heard most of them. Apparently it´s hilarious with a big black guy having three tiny cats."

"On the outside you do look more like someone having a Rottweiler."

"I´ve got nothing against dogs, but they need a lot more care."

They enjoyed the silence for a while.

"Do you want to accompany me to a Christening in Miami on the seventh of May? It´s my goddaughter Stella Mañoso, Ranger´s and Stephanie's daughter."

"I´d love to. But who´ll take care of the cats?"

"They´ll be at a boarding house for pets. They´ve been there before, and seem to like it there."

Annie looked at him teasingly.

"I was just worried Mrs. Gonzales would look after them. Being your neighbor, I mean."

Tank removed Applejack from his shoulder and bent over Annie and started tickling her. Ginger and Cinnamon fled.

"You seem so interested in Mrs. Gonzales that maybe **I** should be worried?"

Annie pretended to consider it. "No, I do think I prefer you."

She straddled his lap and gave him a kiss.

"Want to go upstairs so I can show my appreciation?"

"You bet."


	20. Mayor Juniak

**A big thank you to those have favourited/followed/reviewed this story!**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the plot and Annie. Even the title is borrowed from Van Morrison.**

 _ **Italics - Spanish**_

 **Some bad words, some violence, and fade into black sex-scenes, nothing too graphic.**

 **Chapter 20. Mayor Juniak**

The next day Annie said that she´d prefer to stay at the house and work, if that was OK with Tank.

"Of course. Just please remember that we still have no clue to who was trying to follow you the other day. If you want go somewhere please call me first."

"I promise. Now go away so I can start my torrid affair with Mrs. Gonzales."

Tank just shook his head and drove over to Haywood. He worked out, and then after a shower changed to a business suit.

Two of the meetings were in the building, for which he was grateful, and the third was another lunch meeting, even at the same restaurant as last week. On the drive over to the restaurant he felt like someone was watching him, but he couldn't catch any tail.

When he came to the restaurant he met mayor Juniak who was going inside. Tank gave him a nod, they had met a long time ago, and Stephanie had introduced them.

Juniak came over and shook his hand.

"Tank, wasn't it? Or maybe you prefer Sherman nowadays?"

"Tank´s still fine, mayor Juniak."

"I was wondering if you could spare me a couple of minutes?"

"Of course, I´m a little early for my meeting, so it will not be a problem."

They went outside, and found a secluded spot.

"Let´s get to the point," Juniak said. "Helen called me, and told me about a meeting in the park. She also described a photograph, that she has since burned."

Tank didn´t say anything, just looked at the mayor.

"What's the saying again; the road to hell is paved with good intentions, or something like that.

"I had the best intentions when I was a police commissioner. And I honestly think that I did a good job, with one glaring exception – Joe Morelli. At the time I thought the work I did as a commissioner was good enough to compensate for his shitty work. And I somehow convinced myself that I was protecting my wife. In hindsight it's easy to see that I should have told Morelli to go to hell, even if that had meant the end of my marriage and my friendship to Frank Plum."

"Isn't it hard to have a friendship with a man while having an affair with his wife?"

Juniak visibly shrank in front of Tank.

"It is. That's not how you pay back the man who saved your life. I just wanted to tell you that I have a press conference booked tomorrow morning at ten. And I will talk to Frank tonight. The shit is about to hit the fan. Take care, and take care of your woman. Helen talked to police commissioner Ford as well."

"Is that a threat?"

"On the contrary. It´s a warning from someone who don´t want anyone else hurt in this."

"Thank you, mayor Juniak. I appreciate the warning."

"Good bye, Tank. And maybe you could take a message to Stephanie? Just tell her that her Uncle Joe is sorry."

"I will. Good bye."

Tank returned to the restaurant, and ran into his client on the stairs. They had an amicable lunch, and after some minor alterations they were both pleased with their new contract.

Tank returned to his car, and beeped it open. Just as he was about to open the door he got an itchy feeling between his shoulder blades. No soldier ignored that feeling, and he immediately ducked. He heard the bullet hit the bullet proof glass in the car window. Tank rolled to the side, and got his gun from the holster. He could hear screaming, and the sound when a second shot hit the car. He kept moving and got in shelter behind the car. He could hear no more shots, and immediately called Rangeman.

"Tank here. Someone took a shot at me. I´m in the parking lot of the restaurant, they didn´t hit me, just the car. Send someone to pick me up, and alert the lawyers. I don't know if I´ll need them, but it's better to be prepared. Oh, and send Hector to keep Annie company and as extra security at my house. I´m not sure what this is about yet, but I suspect the Morelli angle."

He then phoned the police, and reported the shooting. He was still on the phone when the first police arrived.

"Police. Put that gun away!"

Tank slowly put the gun on the ground, and raised his hands. The young police immediately searched him.

"I´ve got another gun in my waistband, and one in my ankle holster. And a knife in a holster on my other leg."

"And a permit to carry concealed, plus an identification that says he works for a security firm. And he was the one shot at, not the shooter."

Tank looked over his shoulder.

"Gazarra," he said.

"Tank. Did you fire any weapon at all?"

"Not this time."

"Give it back to him. You ought to be able to smell that that´s not a recently fired weapon."

The rookie cop opened his mouth, but changed his mind when Gazarra flashed him his ID.

"What happened?"

"I was beeping the car open, and on my way to open the door when I got an itch between my shoulder blades. I ducked, and two bullets hit the car instead of me. I have no idea who it was or where the shooter was."

"An itch?" The rookie cop was still around, and he made the question sound doubtful.

"An itch," Tank calmly explained. "I was a soldier for ten years. You get a sixth sense for when someone is aiming at you. And I'd rather look a bit silly ducking for nothing, than have a bullet in me."

"I've called in the technicians," Gazarra said. "We don't really need anything more from you right now. We know where to find you."

"Thank you officer Gazarra. I´d appreciate if you'd pass on any information you´re able to."

Tank turned around and saw Vince waiting outside the cordoned off area.

They got in the car, where Woody was behind the wheel.

"We're taking a detour to my house, and then to Haywood," Tank said.

"Any suspicions?"

"I´m ninety-eight percent sure it's connected to the Morelli cluster fuck. Either Juniak or police commissioner Ford. Or maybe Helen Plum, if she can shoot. I met Juniak at the restaurant about two hours ago, so he knew where I was, but I don't think he´s the shooter. Or the one who ordered it."

They were soon at Tank´s house, and he got inside.

Annie and Hector were sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee and talking. Annie looked a bit surprised to see Tank, but gave him a big smile. He didn´t say a word, just lifted her from the chair and held her tightly.

"Tank? Did something happen?"

He didn´t answer right away, just kept on hugging her. She hugged him back, and said nothing. Finally he was able to let go.

"Sorry. Someone just tried to shoot me."

"What!? How are you? What happened?"

Annie tried to step back, hug him and look him over all at the same time.

She suddenly turned to Hector.

" _And you just happened to be in the neighborhood, right?"_

Hector just shrugged.

" _Tank asked me to keep an eye on you. And when he did I already knew he was alright."_

Annie turned to Tank again.

"It´s as Hector said. I didn´t call you, because I thought it better to see you while we talked. And there was no point in calling and scaring you, when I should be able to come here almost right away."

"In a way I understand, but I don't think you would be that happy if **I** didn´t call you if someone took a shot at me."

Tank made a grimace, and she knew she had made her point.

"I´ll just take a quick shower and change my clothes. Please stay inside with Hector in the meantime. And I'd prefer if you came back to Haywood with me, while we're trying to find out who the shooter was. If not, I hope Hector can stay with you."

Hector just gave him a nod.

"I´ll come with you to Haywood," Annie said. "I think I´ll need to have you in my field of vision for the next hours."

Tank just looked at her again, gave her a quick kiss and disappeared upstairs.

" _You´re good for each other."_

" _It sure feels that way."_

She sighed.

" _And I thought that soon things would calm down, and I'd be able to get back to some routines. I really miss my neighbor Bart, and our gossip sessions while working out at the gym."_

" _The fact that someone took a shot at Tank makes me believe that someone is really scared. Scared people make mistakes, plus we still have our ace,"_ Hector said.

" _If you mean Morelli, he's more like a Joker."_

They finished their coffee, and Tank was soon down again. He held a flak vest in his hand, and looked at Annie.

She sighed and put it on.

"You have no idea how strange this is."

"Please."

"You don't have to beg me. I´m not stupid. If you think I need it, I'll trust you."

Before they went outside Tank called Vince and told him they were on their way. The doors to the car were open, and they quickly took their seats.

"Hi," Annie said.

"Hi, Annie," Woody and Vince said.


	21. Frank Plum

**A big thank you to those have favourited/followed/reviewed this story!**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the plot and Annie. Even the title is borrowed from Van Morrison.**

 _ **Italics - Spanish**_

 **Some bad words, some violence, and fade into black sex-scenes, nothing too graphic.**

 **Chapter 21. Frank Plum**

They were soon at Haywood, after a tense ride. Hector had been trailing after them, and no one had seen anything suspicious.

They went up to the fifth floor, and the conference room there.

Ella came with a food trolley. When she saw Tank she immediately came over and gave him a hug.

"I´m so glad you're not hurt."

"Thank you, Ella."

They went into the conference room, where Tank took a cup of coffee for him and Annie, and then sat down with her in the chair next to him. She didn´t say anything, just held his hand.

Bobby, Cal, Hal, Hector and Ram came inside the room. They took their coffee cups, and sat down.

Hector called someone on the telephone, and put on the speaker when he had an answer.

"Any news or suspects?" Ranger asked over the phone. "And I´m glad you're OK."

"Thanks. I don't know about suspects, but I talked to mayor Juniak at the same restaurant about two hours before the shooting."

Tank gave a quick summary of their conversation.

"And I thought he sounded sincere. I don't know if there will be a press conference tomorrow, though."

"Maybe you should call him and ask if he wants some bodyguards? Some that aren't either police or connected to the mayor´s office." Annie said.

Tank just looked at her at first, then he nodded.

"I agree," Ranger said. "Somehow I don't think he´s the one behind the shootings."

"I can call him," a female voice on the phone said. "I still think he´d trust me."

"Steph," Tank said. "Juniak especially asked me to tell you that Uncle Joe is sorry."

"He should be. But we all make mistakes. I´ll call him."

Ranger and Stephanie finished the phone call. The people in the conference room continued the discussion.

"You want to save Helen Plum as well?" Tank asked Annie.

"She can take care of herself," Annie said. "Besides, I don't think she´d be interested in any help from this company."

"You're probably right."

"How´s Morelli?" Tank asked Bobby.

"Sobering up. Ironically I think it was good for him to be taken here. I mean, besides probably being a prime target for shooting."

"Maybe I should use that when I talk to him. Right now he can stay there; I've got enough on my plate."

Tank turned to Annie.

"You OK with staying here tonight?"

"As long as you're here."

"Of course."

Gazarra called and reported that the shooter had had a long distance rifle, and obviously was a marksman. The bullets would have hit Tank right between the shoulder blades. They had found no obvious evidence at the spot where the shooter had been, but had taken some samples, hoping to get DNA. And both bullets were deformed when hitting the car.

"Were you wearing a flak vest?" Annie asked.

"Of course."

"Why didn´t the shooter try for your head then? Not to downplay the shooting in any way, but was this a serious attempt?"

"It's much harder to hit the head," Bobby said.

"But this was a shooter who had very good aim, Gazarra said," Annie pointed out.

"You think the shooting was a warning?"

"I believe it was meant to give some kind of message, but don't know what. Or maybe it's a smoke screen…"

She was silent for a while, thinking.

"Have you had any time to look into commissioner Ford? According to what Helen Plum said he seems to be a lot more off the straight and narrow than Juniak."

"We've left him to Gazarra. Ranger gave him some names at the FBI to contact, that Ranger knew were clean. Gazarra hasn't told us more about it, but since he's in the middle of this unofficially and has his ordinary job to do as well…"

Annie nodded.

Ram had been silently listening in.

"I think she´s got a point. That you wear a vest on a job is no surprise, and it seems probable that he or she would have been able to make a headshot."

Ram clarified to Annie.

"I was an army sniper."

Annie sighed.

"This makes my head spin. I don't think I´ll contribute anything else."

"You´ve been a great help," Bobby said. "And I think we all could need a break."

"How about some food as well? Pizza maybe."

While they ordered their pizzas Steph called back.

"Uncle Joe thought you had a point when he heard about what happened in the parking lot. I changed the venue for his talk with my dad. The easiest would be if you could pick him up at work, and keep him at a safe house or Haywood tonight."

"Got it."

Bobby picked up their pizza-order, and they ate in the conference room.

Annie ate a couple of slices and some salad, then was content with sitting close to Tank.

"How are you?" he asked.

"I´m not the one who was almost shot. And even believing that they were not out to kill you, it's frightening. I mean, what if you had ducked a millisecond too late, and instead of hitting the car or maybe your vest they´d hit you in the head."

"You know what I do for a living," he said. "All I can promise is to do my very best to get back to you."

Annie just looked at him, and he could see her lip tremble.

"I really need that promise," was the only thing she said.

After the dinner they went into Tank´s office, where Annie crashed on the couch, and Tank tried to get all the facts and theories to fit together. He heard a soft knock on the door, and Ella came in.

"Mayor Juniak will be in the room Annie had last time. I´ve changed the sheets in your usual quarters, but Steph just called and said you could stay on seven if you preferred."

"Thanks, but my usual quarters will be fine. I wouldn't feel comfortable up there, it´s Ranger´s place, even though he has moved."

"The only thing that kept him in Trenton was Steph, so unless she gets tired of Miami I hardly think they'll be back."

"I don't really believe they'll be back, but I still think of it as Ranger´s place. And I have my house."

Ella looked at Annie.

"Go to bed. It´s been an intense day. Is there anything special Annie likes for breakfast?"

"She mostly just has fruit and plain yoghurt before working out, and coffee, strong, and maybe a cream cheese bagel afterwards. Oh, and she doesn't want any artificial sweeteners or

reduced fat. She prefers smaller portions of what she calls "the real thing", and to work it off."

"Got it. The usual for you, or have you given up meat?"

"The usual will be fine, Annie doesn't insist on me eating all-vegetarian."

When Ella had left Tank scooped up Annie in his arms and carried her to his quarters. She woke a little, but burrowed into his neck, and fell back asleep.

Tank hesitated, but decided to go down and talk to Morelli. He wrote a message for Annie and left on the pillow next to her, and then called Bobby.

"I´ll go down and see if Morelli is ready to talk. Annie´s asleep and I´ve left a message. Would you like to listen in?"

"Absolutely. Meet you down there."

They met in the basement, and Tank brought another bottle of water plus a sandwich to Morelli.

"Morelli."

Tank took the empty bottle and the old sandwich wrapper.

"Not hungry?" he asked as he saw the half eaten old sandwich.

"I know you're trying to mess with my sense of time, but it's not been that long in between feedings."

"Suit yourself."

"Anything you´d like to say."

"Not to you."

"Well, I don't especially feel like talking to you, either."

Tank went to the door, and just as he was leaving he said:

"Oh, and I think you should be grateful no one can find you here. Someone took a shot at me earlier today. A sniper with a long distance rifle."

He left without giving Morelli a chance to reply, and he heard him swear loudly behind the cell door. Bobby stood by the door.

"Do you think that will make him talk?"

"No idea, but hopefully it will make his sleep more troubled."

They were on their way to the stairs when Tank got a call.

"Yeah."

"-"

"Now?"

"-"

"I see."

He hung up and turned to Bobby.

"We´d better go to the medical suite. Frank Plum and mayor Juniak started a fistfight. Woody and Vince got them separated, and thought it was better you took a look at them rather than the hospital."

Bobby sighed, and they both went upstairs.

When they got into the medical suite both men looked worse for wear. Frank Plum had a shiner over his left eye, and his nose seemed swollen. Juniak favored his ribs; it seemed he had gone for the face and Frank for the ribs and/or the kidneys. Somehow they didn´t seem especially angry.

"Why did you marry her if you **knew** Valerie wasn't yours."

"Stupidity and a sweet tooth. Helen´s always been a good cook. And I got Stephanie out of the deal. And even though she's not mine biologically, Valerie´s my daughter in every way that counts. But I don't understand why you hooked up with her. There must be better women out there."

"Undoubtedly. A miserable marriage and a drive for angry sex. It never felt like an ongoing thing, just a string of unconnected hook ups, and suddenly you realize it's been a long time. But I **am** sorry it was your marriage I was destroying."

"It wasn´t a marriage for a long time. And since Helen and I were both raised Catholic and living in the Burg... I didn´t want to be alone, and there was no one else."

Bobby saw to their injuries, but didn´t say anything. Tank just leaned on the wall, silent.

"I suspected Helen of having an affair for a long time, but I didn´t really care. I think I subconsciously wanted her to find someone else and go away, but…" He sighed. "I only regret I let her treat the girls so harshly. Mostly Stephanie, I suppose. Shit, Helen´s had my balls in her purse for a long time."

He looked up at Tank.

"Is there a vacant couch around for tonight?"

"There is one in the apartment mayor Juniak will be staying in, if you're done fighting."

Frank didn´t say anything at first, just looked over at Joe Juniak.

"I´m done fighting," he said.

"Me too." Juniak held out his hand, and they shook.

"Let´s raid the fridge in the break room," Bobby said.

In the break room they found Woody and Vince.

"You're following mayor Juniak first shift tomorrow. Hector and Zero will take the second shift. And during the press conference you'll be reinforced with Hal, Cal, Ram and Eric."

Tank turned to Juniak.

"Do you have a flak vest?"

"Yes."

"Good, you keep it on for the next days, at least."

Tank turned to Woody.

"You're responsible for the detail round mayor Juniak. Meet me in my office 0700 tomorrow."

"Will do."

"And you," he said to Vince, "ask Ella to put together an overnight kit for Mr. Plum. He'll be staying on the couch in Juniak´s rooms."

Vince nodded, and Tank turned to Juniak and Frank Plum.

"See you tomorrow."

Then he returned to his quarters and found Annie awake.

She was sitting up in the bed and reading a book. When Tank came back she immediately put the book away and started to get up from the bed.

"Why don't you stay there. I'll be glad to join you after a quick shower."

"And I would gladly join you for a not so quick shower."

"That could be arranged."

After the shower they drank some tea and talked a little. Nothing at all regarding Morelli or the mess surrounding him, instead they laughed a little about stories from them growing up.

Annie looked at him and lightly chewed on the side of her lip. Tank had already learned that she was thinking of how to tell him something she thought he wouldn´t like when she did that.

"Spit it out," he said.

"My parents will be visiting in July." She hesitated.

"I´d like you to meet them, but only if you want to."

"Absolutely. Are you planning on staying here, or travelling around?"

"A little New Jersey, some New York. They´ll be visiting after a dentist´s conference in Washington."

She yawned.

"Let´s go to bed."

After they had made love again Annie cuddled up to him, and soon fell asleep. Tank lay awake a long time holding her, just listening to her breathing. Today was too close, he thought, even if he agreed with Annie that the perpetrator probably hadn't meant to kill him.


	22. Press conference

**A big thank you to those have favourited/followed/reviewed this story!**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the plot and Annie. Even the title is borrowed from Van Morrison.**

 _ **Italics - Spanish**_

 **Some bad words, some violence, and fade into black sex-scenes, nothing too graphic.**

 **Chapter 22. Press conference**

The next day they went to the gym for a work out. Tank asked Hector to take Annie to Ms. Anderson´s house after their breakfast, checked the planning for Juniak´s detail and press conference, and got a report on Morelli from Brown. Thankfully he didn´t have any customer meetings, but he dumped some of the paper work on Binkie, who had been injured during a takedown the day before.

Hector came back looking angry, and finally Tank called Annie to hear what had happened. She laughed a little, and said that apparently she didn´t need to introduce Hector to Murillo, they already knew each other. Yes, that way. She wasn't sure who had broken off whatever the deal had been, but both had acted like the wounded party. She said that he was welcome to Hector and his temper, because she had her hands full with Murillo.

They hung up, and Tank looked at his watch. Half past nine, half an hour until the start of the press conference.

He decided to go down and talk to Morelli.

He took a bottle of water and a sandwich with him again.

"Morelli. I thought maybe you wanted to hear some news from the rest of the world," Tank said.

"So you´ll get a special rendition of some things that has happened the last days. Starting with a conversation held with Helen Plum the other day."

He picked up the old sandwich wrapper and the empty water bottle and left. He could hear the recording from Annie's meeting with Helen begin to play. He went to Hector to double check that he had Morelli monitored, and potential sounds recorded.

Then he returned to the fifth floor and the conference room there. The wide screen TV was on, and he poured himself a cup of coffee in the break room. When he returned there were a couple of other employees having their break in front of the TV, plus Frank Plum. The reporter was talking about an extra press conference held by the mayor, and speculated if it was to announce him running for senator, even if it was an unorthodox way of starting the campaign.

At exactly ten o'clock Juniak entered the dais and began.

"Today´s press conference will be short. I'm resigning as mayor, and will not continue my political career. The reason is that when I was a police commissioner one of my underlings got compromising photos of me with a married woman. He used those photos to get promotions he didn´t deserve, and also got me to cover for his less than stellar work as a police officer.

"At the time I myself was a married man, and I didn´t want to hurt my late wife. Now I´m realizing the consequences of my decision was more far-reaching than just my wife, and so I have decided to resign. I apologize to the citizens who because of my lack of a backbone were exposed to a police officer who never should have had his job.

"I won´t take any questions right now. Thank you for coming to this press conference."

Juniak left the dais and the room was in turmoil. Tank could see the Rangeman bodyguard closing in and getting Juniak out of the room.

"That will hit more than the local news," Tank said. "We´ll have to reschedule some men, Juniak will need a bigger detail the next days. Check if there´re any of the contract workers who can join the shifts. Pair them of with Rangemen, not solely contract workers together."

"Will do," Binkie confirmed.

"Check with Juniak if he wants to come back here, or go to his home later."

He turned to Frank Plum. His shiner was blue-black, but he seemed more aware than he had ever seen him. He wondered how much of the quiet uninterested man was PTSD and how much was Helen Plum´s influence. Frank had after all said it himself – Helen had had his balls in her purse for a long time.

"I was wondering if you could recommend a lawyer. I'm divorcing Helen. Joe and I talked about it, and he says he's willing to testify if she´s reluctant to agree. That way I don't have to pay her alimony, but I'm willing to let her keep the house. She´s got some money after her parents, so she should be able to keep the same standard of living."

"And what will you do?"

"I´ve got my pension. I'm even thinking of travelling a little, maybe buy one of those trailers."

"I´ll call a lawyer. And you can stay at Rangeman until you have more definite plans."

"Thank you. I appreciate it."

Frank shook his hand.

"Maybe you should wait to confront Helen until you´ve got the paperwork. Just call her and say you're away for a couple of days."

"I've turned off my cell phone; I suppose she´s left some messages."

He turned it on, and looked at the display.

"Yep. Helen has called, and some other busybodies after the press conference. I suppose they want me to tattle on Joe."

He left, and Tank didn´t envy him his upcoming talk with Helen.

Binkie returned.

"I talked to Woody. He discussed it with Juniak, who says he'd prefer to stay here at Haywood for the next couple of days. He´s just emptying his office."

"We should start a hotel. Juniak, Frank Plum and Morelli… Fuck, what a mess."

Binkie gave him a smile and a pat on the shoulder before he left.

x x x

Tank returned to his office, where he called Gazarra.

"Hi, Eddie. How about lunch today?"

"Can't confirm right now. The shit has hit the fan after Juniak´s press conference about a crooked police officer. I honestly don't know if I´ll have the time for lunch at all today. Or if my kids and wife will be awake when I get back home."

"I get it. You know where to reach me."

"Thanks, Tank."

Frank Plum returned to the break room later for some lunch. Tank was just finishing his salad.

"There´re various sandwiches, soups and salads."

"Thanks. I don't have much of an appetite, so I think I´ll have some soup."

He got a bowl of vegetable soup and sat down across from Tank.

"I called Helen. She suspects I know about her and Joe, but since I didn´t say anything about it she didn´t bring it up, either. She was vocally against me not being home, but there isn't much she can do about it.

"And then I called Stephanie. She said I should come down to Miami and get some time away from the Burg, and also to get to know Stella. She suggested I could come down with you for the christening, and stay for a while after."

"Sounds like a good plan, Mr. Plum."

"Please, call me Frank."

"Thank you, Frank. I got hold of our law firm, by the way. I gave them the suggestions you had this morning, and someone will be over with an outline before 1600. I suggest you talk to Valerie as well, if I may be so bold. I don't want to tell you what to do, but I think she deserves to hear the story from you. God knows what version your wife will give her."

"Soon to be ex-wife I hope. And you're right. I need to talk to Valerie. But after I´ve met with the lawyer."

"Oh, and if you want to go the gym the lanyard you have will get you inside. Ella can get you some clothes."

"That sounds like a good idea. Thanks."

"There's usually someone in the gym if you want a run-through of the equipment, otherwise I could come with you."

"Thanks, but I realize you have a lot on your plate."

"You're the boss´ father-in-law, that´s quite high in the order of things at Rangeman."

Frank laughed.

"I hope to be able to get to get to know him a bit better as well, when I visit them."

Just then Joe Juniak and his bodyguards arrived.

"I must say I´m impressed by the Rangeman personnel. They managed to shake off the media, even though we went back to get some of my stuff at the house."

"I´m on my way to the gym," Frank said. "Why don't you come with me, so we can talk."

"Someone at least bruised my ribs yesterday, so I'm not that sure of what I can do, but I´ll be over in a while."

Tank looked at Cal, who was in the detail.

"Go with them to the gym and show them the equipment."

"Will do."

Tank turned to Juniak.

"And while you're at Haywood we won't have a detail on you. The lanyard will give you access to the garage, this floor, the gym and your apartment. But if you want to go out please alert us so we have the detail ready."

"Of course. It´s been a pleasure working with true professionals today. And thank you for letting me stay here."

x x x

Tank went to the monitor room.

"Any news on Morelli?"

"He got a bit pale when he heard Helen Plum´s opinions of him and how much she revealed, but he didn´t say anything. I took the liberty to rerun the audio, and he still looks pissed, but hasn't said anything out loud."

"Repeat it another couple of times, then you can shift to the press conference earlier today. Better let him hear that numerous times as well."

"Will do."


	23. Chapter 23

**A big thank you to those have favourited/followed/reviewed this story!**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the plot and Annie. Even the title is borrowed from Van Morrison.**

 _ **Italics - Spanish**_

 **Some bad words, some violence, and fade into black sex-scenes, nothing too graphic.**

 **Chapter 23. Internal Affairs**

Tank returned to his office and sat down behind the desk. He sighed and put his face in his hands. He felt unsure of what to do next. There were so many threads still unconnected. He took a pad and started a simple list.

Eddie´s bug

Commissioner Ford

The shooting

Those he connected with a brace and wrote Johnson?

He continued the list with

Morelli

Helen Plum

Valerie

Steph

He looked at the last entries, and thought that those were mostly not his problems. He put the pad away, and sighed again. He was still contemplating what to do when his phone rang.

It was Eddie Gazarra.

"That lunch sounds good. Can I bring someone?"

"Of course."

"We'll be right over."

Tank hung up, and wondered if lunch meant that Gazarra was hungry. He called Ella and asked her for some fresh sandwiches and coffee. He then called Hector and told him to be prepared to check for bugs, and asked Brown to sit in on the meeting.

He picked up the phone again and called Annie.

"Hi. I just wanted to hear your voice."

"Hi. After yesterday I need to hear your voice more often as well, so thanks."

"Everything OK?"

"Yes. I usually work on at least two fragments simultaneously, and now I got a breakthrough with one that has had me stymied for weeks. I'll be riding that high for some days."

"Sounds good. Maybe we can celebrate a bit tomorrow?"

"I´d like that."

They said their goodbyes, and Tank went down to the reception. Gazarra arrived a couple of minutes later, and he had a tall man in his early forties that Tank didn´t recognize with him.

"Tank."

"Gazarra."

"I think we´ll just proceed as usual before we start talking," Eddie said. The men left their cellphones in the reception, and Hector came over to scan them outside the conference room. He found no bugs.

They went into the conference room together with Brown.

"This is Andrew Johnson, Internal Affairs," Gazarra said. "And this is Tank Sherman and Bobby Brown, two of the co-owners of Rangeman."

They shook hands. Johnson had a solid shake, but didn´t use the opportunity as a pissing contest.

"Please help yourselves, there´s coffee and sandwiches over there."

They sat down at the table, and Johnson started.

"Gazarra was partially right. I´m working in internal affairs at the TPD, but my primary employment is with the FBI."

Tank drank some coffee, and didn´t say anything.

"We've suspected something wasn't right at the TPD for a while, so I was transferred here six months ago. At first I could only find minor things. Then I noticed a pattern, officer Morelli was almost always involved in some way. I also heard rumors that he wasn't that good as detective, especially after his former girlfriend, Stephanie Plum, married and moved away. There were speculations on how much she had helped him with various cases before.

"Since I was so new in Trenton I didn´t have many contacts, and the other police in Internal Affairs were, let's just say, unhelpful. Still I managed to get some leads that seemed to point not only at Morelli, but also commissioner Ford.

"And then, about two weeks ago, commissioner Ford called me in and said he needed some help, especially since I wasn't a local. He asked me to keep my eyes, not on Morelli who was on suspension after breaking and entering, but on Gazarra, who had just been promoted to detective."

He drank some coffee and continued his account.

"I investigated detective Gazarra, but couldn't find anything. The only odd thing was his lunches here at Haywood. The cellphones didn´t yield anything more than confirming this company has good security measures, but this Monday I managed to get a bug on him. That didn´t catch anything either."

Bobby couldn't help but laugh.

"We found it because of our security measures, but the managing of it was pure civilian ingenuity."

Gazarra also laughed.

"It was dumped in a pitcher of water."

"Well, this Monday I was also called into commissioner Ford´s office. He asked me to tail a woman from a park. He gave me a rough description of both her and Helen Plum, the woman she was meeting. I managed to get my eyes on the young woman leaving the park, and she jumped into a car with license plates I tracked to this firm. I was also followed by another car, but got away thanks to a traffic accident just behind me.

"But I got enough on her to realize that she was the woman whose apartment Morelli had broken into. I believe that Helen Plum had some kind of audio in the park, but I never got access to it."

"We had audio on Annie. You can have that, but right now I won't let you take it out of here. This shit is driving me up the wall, and if you want us to help, you have to give us something as well. We have a mutual interest in getting this cleared.

"For example, I was shot at yesterday."

"I know. I was the shooter," Johnson said.

"Thought so," said Tank while Gazarra and Brown audibly asked what the fuck in the background.

"I didn´t think that would be a good conversation starter."

"I think it would be better to start from the beginning."

"As I said, commissioner Ford asked me to tail the woman from the park, one Annie Morrison. When I recognized the name as being connected to Morelli I tried to get in touch with him. He had a courtroom hearing scheduled this Monday, but didn´t show. Fact is no one has seen him since Saturday."

Johnson looked at the other people in the conference room, but no one said anything.

"This might be a good point to reciprocate some information."

"So far you haven't given us anything new, or at least something we haven't been able to figure out ourselves.

"But to show some goodwill – we know where Morelli is, and he won't be any trouble until we decide it´s time for him to be trouble again."

"Understood."

"I reported back to commissioner Ford that the woman in the park had left in a car I couldn't quite see the plates on. He said he had a lead to Rangeman, and two days later he asked me to shoot you. I got a photo of you, and also about one o'clock got a position where he said you'd be. I decided to make it look real, and managed to determine which car was yours. I got a clear view, and put quite a lot of effort into making it look good. I admit I was hoping for the exact reaction I got, the one from a seasoned soldier.

"When I reported back to the commissioner he was displeased.

"He has asked me to keep looking for Annie Morrison, and if possible kidnap her. I suppose he´s hoping for some bargaining power. And then Juniak´s press conference earlier today made a bad situation a lot more desperate for commissioner Ford."

"Shit!" Tank immediately called Hector and asked him to pick up Annie and get her to Haywood A.S.A.P.

"Who else at the TPD seems involved with the commissioner? And what are the outside connections?"

"I suspect he´s got an in with the mob, the Grizoli family. And Morelli has been a good little messenger boy."

"All right, let´s get the audio from the meeting in the park between Annie Morrison and Helen Plum. The latter is the mother of Stephanie Plum, Morelli's ex."

Halfway through listening to the audio Tank got a text from Hector that said that he and Annie were at Haywood, they had taken a detour to lose a tail. He let out a deep breath.

Gazarra and Brown looked at him, while Johnson listened intently on the audio.

"Annie´s here," Tank said, and they both gave him a nod.

After he had listened to the audio Johnson sat silent for a while.

"I need Morelli," he said. "I need the photos and his testimony."

"I suspect that will be hard to get. He's not said anything of value so far. He's not mentally sound, and he's still got withdrawal symptoms."

"Right now I don't have enough on commissioner Ford to be sure he'll be put away more than a couple of years. And I don´t have substantial evidence on the mob angle.

"I **need** to talk to Morelli."

"That can be arranged, but not right now. We have him at a secure location.

"And frankly, I want to talk to someone higher up in the FBI. Preferably someone on the list Gazarra got from Ranger Mañoso."

"I understand. Here's my number. Call me if you´ve got anything new. I´ve already got the number to Rangeman."

They shook hands and Gazarra and Johnson left. As soon as Tank saw the outside door close behind them he went to the electronics room.

Annie was sitting inside talking to Hector, obviously learning a lot of swear words. When she heard the door she was like a homing missile, and Tank just opened his arms and held her tight.

"Missed you," She said.

"Me too. And then someone told me that commissioner Ford was hoping to use you as a bargaining chip."

"Oh shit."

Hector said something a lot worse in Spanish. Annie couldn't help but giggle.

" _I didn´t hear all of those words when you were trying to help me with my Spanish,"_ she said.

" _I tried to not have you sounding like a prim twelve year-old, not swearing like a sailor."_

" _Thank you, Hector. Both for the language lessons and for picking me up."_

She gave him a quick hug.

Tank caught his eyes and just said thanks before they left the room. He had his arm round Annie´s shoulders feeling that he had to know exactly where she was. Outside the door they stood still, just holding each other, and then they started to kiss frantically.

"Need you," he said.

"Now," she confirmed, and they relocated to his apartment. Afterwards they lay in bed, just holding on to each other.

"Don't misunderstand me. I don't for a second regret us, but this shit is getting to me. I just want it to be over with, so we could try to find an everyday normal." He could taste the salt from tears in her kiss.

"I totally agree. Today we had a breakthrough of sorts. The man who shot at me yesterday did so on commissioner Ford´s orders. And we have enough on the commissioner to put him away for a couple of years. But we want him to stay locked up for a much longer time. And we need to get his accomplices as well."

"Have you got Joe Morelli to talk to you?"

"No."

"Maybe I could try…"

"Not yet. I need to try some other things before. He´s…"

"I get it. We save me trying to talk to him for later. Now I want a shower and something to eat."

They took a shower, and then Ella delivered a delicious vegetarian chili plus dessert. They curled up on the sofa afterwards, and Annie asked.

"Who´s taking care of the cats?"

"Mrs. Gonzales."

Annie started to tickle him.

"Hector took them to that boarding house for pets I told you about."

"Good. Both for the cats and Mrs. Gonzales."

"I've told you, I have absolutely no interest in Mrs. Gonzales. In fact, I feel I don't need anyone else but you. This has been a roller coaster ride on maximum speed, Annie, but I've never felt this way before."

He gave her a soft kiss.

"I love you."

"Oh, Tank. It´s definitely maximum speed, but I feel the same, I love you."

They stayed on the sofa just cuddling, and Tank finally had to carry Anne to bed, she was sleeping soundly.

He checked in with the monitor crew before he got back to bed, but there wasn't anything urgent.


	24. Downtime

**A big thank you to those have favourited/followed/reviewed this story!**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the plot and Annie. Even the title is borrowed from Van Morrison.**

 _ **Italics - Spanish**_

 **Some bad words, some violence, and fade into black sex-scenes, nothing too graphic.**

 **Chapter 24. Downtime**

The next morning they started with a thorough round in the gym, and then they had breakfast. Annie had called Murillo the night before and said that she´d work with just the photos for the next week, at least. She didn´t explain anything, and couldn't help but wonder if Hector had told Murillo anything about his work when they were in a relationship.

Annie worked in Tank´s apartment until she wanted some company and ventured out to the break room. Obviously more people wanted company or at least coffee, cause she met Cal and Bobby, who introduced her to two men in their late fifties/early sixties – Frank Plum and Joe Juniak.

"I can see why Joe Morelli mistook you for Stephanie from behind," said Frank. "Not only the curls but also the hair color looks the same."

"I agree," said Juniak. "From behind I´d definitely believe you´re Stephanie."

They chatted for awhile about her work. Ex-mayor Juniak had met Ms. Anderson on several fundraisers, mostly concerning cultural purposes. Tank came to the break room for a quick cup of coffee. He wore a suit, and Annie complimented him.

"I don't know if Mrs. Gonzales would prefer this or the shorts only view," she teased.

"Well, as long as you know which one you prefer, it's OK." Tank gave her a quick kiss and returned to another of the client meetings.

Annie returned to Tank´s apartment to work some more, and didn´t notice the time until Tank rang and asked if she had already eaten lunch, or if she wanted to eat with him. When she looked at the time she saw it was already two o´clock.

"No, I haven't eaten yet. Shall we meet in the break room?"

"Why don't you come to my office. I'm through with the client meetings, thankfully."

"Be right over."

In his office Tank had a small sofa with a table. There were fruit, sandwiches and water bottles, as well as thermos of coffee.

"Looks perfect," Annie smiled and gave him a kiss.

They ate while talking about the client meetings and Annie´s work with the fragments.

"I had planned to take you out to celebrate tonight, but since we don't know how desperate Ford is I don't feel comfortable with exposing us outside of Haywood," Tank said.

"I´m not all that keen on going out with that threat over us either. I´ll give you a rain check."

When she had left Tank called a florist and had them send over a dozen red roses. Ella had asked if they wanted dinner, and Tank had explained about the postponed celebration. Ella promised to help with an intimate dinner. Since Annie was working in the apartment she said she'd use the smallest conference room.

At six o'clock Tank, still in his suit, knocked on the apartment door. Annie opened, and he could see that she had changed into a short copper colored dress, and put on makeup. Her hair was in an elegant updo, with a single curl artfully escaping down her long neck. He gave her the roses, which Ella had put in a vase.

"They´re beautiful. Thank you."

" **You're** beautiful." He gave her a toe-curling kiss, and then held out his arm.

"Our dinner´s awaiting."

Annie laughed and gave a small curtsy before taking his arm. He escorted her to the conference room, which Ella had managed to transform to a beautiful dining room with flowers and lit candles.

They had a delicious dinner complete with English beer, and a chocolate dessert that made Annie close her eyes and lick the spoon. Tank groaned at her display, and Annie opened her eyes and blushed.

"Sorry. Didn´t mean to tease."

"No problem, but now I need a taste." Annie held out the spoon with dessert on, but Tank gave her a steamy kiss instead. He turned up the slow music playing in the background, and they danced for about two songs before they decided to relocate to the apartment.

x x x

The next day was a Saturday. They skipped the gym for the morning, and Tank made them pancakes. Annie was wearing one of his t-shirts, long enough to be considered a dress, but the neckline kept slipping down, teasing him with glimpses of a shapely shoulder. He kissed it when she passed with two cups of fresh coffee.

"I believe you missed," she said, and kissed him on the mouth.

They had a leisurely breakfast, reading the paper and drinking more coffee. They did the paper´s crossword together, and Tank managed to find an old Scrabbles board, and had to acknowledge a thorough defeat.

"How about we ask Brown over to play Scrabbles?" Tank asked.

Annie gave him an appraising gaze.

"Is he any good?"

"He always beats me, but after seeing you in action I´m convinced he won't stand a chance."

Annie did thoroughly trounce Tank and Bobby. Bobby comforted himself that a Ph.D. in linguistics ought to be good at Scrabbles.

They ate a light lunch together with Bobby, complemented with Ella´s chocolate dessert from the dinner.

"That was really good," said Bobby. "And I´m thankful you're not as vocal as Steph in your appreciation of chocolate."

"Steph usually moans," Tank explained. "Honestly, she sounds like the soundtrack to something x-rated."

"Yeah, and it can be a bit embarrassing," Bobby said. "Especially since Ranger is a bit possessive. Like Tank."

"I have to say that this far I'm definitely the more possessive of the two of us," Annie calmly replied.

Tank laughed. Bobby just looked at them, and shook his head.

They were still sitting in the break room when Frank Plum came in. He said hello, and got a cup of coffee and sat down. He looked a bit off.

"How are you, Frank?" Bobby asked.

"I've talked to Valerie. Since it's a Saturday her husband could look after the children for a couple of hours, so we met at their house."

"Oh, did you tell her about…" Bobby fell silent.

"If you want to talk about it I´ll just leave now," Annie said.

"Please don´t," Frank said. "Since you've talked to Helen you already know everything, and maybe I just need to talk about it to someone not involved, at least not in that part of it."

"So, what did she say?" Tank asked.

"At first she didn´t want to believe it, but that was easy to prove with the different blood groups. And then she started ranting a bit about Helen, and then she got jealous of Stephanie being my biological daughter… All in all quite emotional. I asked her not to talk to Helen about it until after I´ve talked to her.

"And then I went to Helen…" He sighed. "It went as well as I expected. She maintained that Valerie was mine, and also claimed that she hadn´t been unfaithful. When I confronted her with the blood analysis plus said that I´d talked to Joe Juniak she went on the offensive, and said that she wouldn't have been unfaithful if I'd been enough of a…" He fell silent with an embarrassed look at Annie.

"I was on my way to the gym," Annie said and got up from the table. "For what it´s worth, when I met Helen Plum she didn't seem to be capable of acknowledging that she had done anything wrong ever, including what she´d done to you and your daughters."

Annie left, and Bobby and Tank tried to convince Frank Plum that his soon to be ex-wife was a real bitch. Finally Tank made him listen to the audio from the park, and when he got to the part about not giving Valerie a blood transfusion after her accident Frank became livid.

"I talked to the law firm yesterday. They will give her the divorce papers on Monday, and if she tries to contest them I won't give her the house either. And any judge hearing how she behaved when her own daughter´s life was in danger…"

Tank took a look at him.

"Why don't we join Annie in the gym. There´s a lot of possibilities to work out some frustration."

"I believe I´ll take you up on that."

x x x

After the gym Tank went down to talk to Morelli.

"Hello, Morelli. I believe you've had quite the drama to listen to. How did you like Juniak´s press conference?"

Joe didn´t answer.

"I believe he left you and the commissioner in front of an oncoming bus. What's your opinion?"

"-"

"Well, I´d say it was nice talking to you, but I don't want to lie…"

Just before he was leaving the cell Tank turned around.

"Have I said thank you? I mean, after all, your stalking got me my own curly haired brunette…."

When he closed the door behind him he heard Morelli´s enraged bellow.

Tank returned to the apartment, and found Annie working at her laptop. She shifted around, and unconsciously massaged her neck.

"Tired muscles?"

"Mmm. I don't believe this was a good position to work in, but I was on a roll, and now my neck and shoulders feel quite uncomfortable."

"Move over to the bed and I´ll give you a massage."

"Really? That sounds absolutely perfect."

He picked up some lotion in the bathroom, and proceeded to give her a thorough massage.

"It´s like that old Mellencamp song, 'Hurts so good'," Annie said. "A bit of a backrub on top and you'll have me asleep in five minutes."

"If that´s what you want. Or I could massage your front, too."

"Decisions, decisions…" Annie turned around and kissed him.

x x x

Sunday came, and with it another lazy morning. They had brunch, and then Annie´s telephone rang. It was Bart. He assured her everything was OK with the apartment, and then explained he was a bit down since he had broken up with Marvin. They talked for awhile, but both thought that this conversation called for lots of chocolate and preferably eye to eye. Annie quickly explained that they had some security issues, and that she couldn't leave the building. Tank had overheard some of their conversation, and told her to ask Bart to come over. Bart approved, and they decided that he´d come over as soon as he had bought some chocolate.

Annie asked Ella for some ingredients and made what she called a Swedish specialty, kladdkaka. Half-baked brownies was the closest comparison, but not quite the same thing, she told Tank. She managed to get hold of Bart and told him to bring some unsweetened double cream from the store as well.

Bart arrived after half an hour, laden down with different types of chocolate. Tank had fetched him in the reception, but left them alone in the apartment.

Annie sent him on his way with a kiss and a promise to save some cake. Tank decided to go to the gym, where he met some of the off duty men.

"Honeymoon-phase already over?" Cal teased.

"No, but since she's more or less locked up here at Haywood she asked her gay neighbor over for an eye to eye with a chocolate binge."

"I hope you have some surveillance. It would be hilarious to hear what they say about you."

"Probably," Tank acknowledged. "But since I wouldn´t appreciate someone listening in when I have a private conversation…"

"Got it."

They got in the ring to spar with each other, and afterwards Tank ran for 45 minutes on the treadmill.

On his way out to the locker room Tank met Frank Plum and Joe Juniak on their way in. They both looked hungover.

"Is it too bad for the universal cure of salt and grease?" he asked them.

"Probably," Juniak said.

Tank took a look around the gym, and raised his voice.

"Anyone for pizza tonight?"

"Are you buying?" Cal quickly asked.

"Why not, there's been a lot of extra work lately. But in exchange you and someone else can pick them up from Shorty´s. Just give me a rough estimation of how many we'll be."

x x x

Tank arrived at the apartment, and felt a bit silly when he knocked on his own door.

"Come in," said Annie.

She and Bart sat in the sofa, with two polished plates on the table. A pile of discarded wrappers showcased a massive chocolate overdose.

"Oh," said Bart. "I believe it's time for me to go to the gym.

"I hope there´s a good view," said Annie. "I must say that the gym here has the best view ever."

"Oh, I believe you," said Bart.

Tank and Annie followed him down to the foyer, where they said their farewells, and after an affectionate hug from Annie Bart drove away.

She gave Tank a kiss.

"Thank you."

"You´re welcome. Can you now please explain what I´ve done that deserved a thank you."

"Allowing Bart in here. And letting me have some alone-time just to chat and gossip with him. He was upset about Marvin, even though I´ve thought they were on the verge of a breakup for a long time."

They returned to the fifth floor and did a rough estimate on how many pizzas they should order. Tank phoned in the order, and Cal and Woody picked them up. The biggest conference room was set up for the impromptu feast, and some beers found their way there from different apartments.

"I believe you´ve made me a choosy beer drinker. I used to be fine just if it was wet," Tank said.

"Are you complaining?"

"Not really. It´s still cheaper than wine, especially better wine."

They were sitting on the corner of the table talking quietly.

"Annie," said Bobby.

"Yeah?"

"You don't have any single sisters or friends? Looking at you two makes even me consider having a real relationship."

"My newly single friend just left, but I don't think you swing that way, even though Bart´s a very good man and friend. And I´m an only child, so no siblings. I do have a really nice single cousin, but she lives in London.

"I think you should learn from Tank and Hal."

Hal looked up, blushing.

"Me?"

"Yeah, you asked Nicole out when you met up at the TPD. You had already established you had some mutual interests. And Tank asked me out on a date the first time we met."

Bobby sighed a little.

"I **did** give you my phone number the first time we met, Annie. What more could a man do?"

"Maybe buy a cup of coffee? **Without** bringing your friend…"

They bantered a bit back and forth, and Tank just sat there enjoying the way Annie fit into his life and with his friends. He could understand that Bobby saw something he was missing in his own life. And Bobby was the more mature of their former quartet. Lester felt like the eternal bachelor, but then again Tank hadn't thought Ranger would ever marry again. Really, Bobby felt like the one most likely to settle down of the four of them.

"But really, Annie, I don't want to just meet **a** woman, I want to meet the right one."

"Then you should think of what´s the more important parts of your life. If you're really into scuba diving, join a club, if medical care is top priority and interest take some classes, or maybe volunteer at the veterans´ hospital, if you like dancing take some classes. The odds of meeting someone with similar interests are a lot better than just hoping to meet the right one when you're in a club. But if you take up ballroom dancing, please bring Cal with you."

"Cal?!"

"Yeah, can you imagine the looks when they see his tattoo?"


	25. Monday

**A big thank you to those have favourited/followed/reviewed this story!**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the plot and Annie. Even the title is borrowed from Van Morrison.**

 _ **Italics - Spanish**_

 **Some bad words, some violence, and fade into black sex-scenes, nothing too graphic.**

 **Chapter 25. Monday**

After breakfast and workout they split up. Annie decided to work in the electronics room, as long as Hector was OK with that. Tank went to his office and called Ranger.

They both felt that the next step should be to contact the FBI. Since Ranger was the one who had worked the most with them, he said he would try to get hold of one of his old contacts, and then he would call Tank back.

"Has Morelli said anything?"

"Not really. But he got really pissed off when I left him yesterday, and on my way out said that I now had my own curly haired brunette, thanks to him and his stalking.

"Maybe we could ask the FBI if they have a psychologist that could talk to him?"

"I´ll ask them when I talk to them."

They hung up, and Tank called in Binkie. Together they finalized the work plans for the next month, and checked the pay-roll. Annie came up and had lunch with Tank in the break room.

x x x

Ranger called in the afternoon.

"It seems more complicated than we hoped."

"Yeah?"

"My contact said he wasn't sure of Johnson. And the mob connection Ford has is with the Grizoli family, who mostly deals in drugs and prostitutes. Johnson has been around them before, and not gotten the evidence needed. So now we don't know if he is involved with them. The assignment here was partly so the FBI could check how he acts."

"So we have a crooked police commissioner, Joe Morelli who is blackmailing said commissioner and stalking women, a possibly involved FBI-agent, and the mob. Fan-fucking-tastic. What the hell should we do next?"

"I´m coming up to meet with some FBI-agents I know personally, and can vouch for. And even if we're on a secure line, I don't want to talk more on the phone."

"Thanks man. And give my best to Steph."

"Will do."

Tank had planned to go down to Morelli, but decided that he didn´t want to talk to the cop. So far Morelli hadn't said anything worthwhile, and for all that Tank cared he could rot in the hidden cell. Binkie had made a good dent in the paperwork, and Tank thought that they really ought to hire an administrator. The problem was how to get a person that would fit in with the company. And the current employees would do almost anything not to have to handle the administrative side.

He went out to the break room for coffee, and saw that Frank Plum and Joe Juniak were sitting there talking to Woody and Zero.

They looked up when he came into the room.

"Tank."

"Frank, Juniak."

"Please, call me Joe," Juniak said. "Even if it´s a bit tainted by the connection to Morelli."

"I've never called him 'Joe', so that's not a problem. I'll gladly call you Joe."

He took a sip from his mug.

"So, have you been up to anything today?"

"Right now I'm mostly enjoying the peace and quiet. I know I´ll have to get out in the real world soon, but I've needed this time to ground myself. I've talked to my secretary, and we have decided to meet with the administration tomorrow, plus selected a couple of journalists for a meeting the day after.

"We've had a good time in the gym as well. As former soldiers we know better than to get this out of shape, but now we're working on it."

"And you, Frank?"

"Oh, I´ve definitely enjoyed the peace and quiet. The law firm called earlier. They have given the divorce papers to Helen. She has one week to sign them, if she doesn't I´ll rescind the offer to let her keep the house, and take it to court. Considering the result from Valerie's paternity test, and the fact that I've supported her there´s a good chance Helen would need to pay **me** from her parents' inheritance. And that's without including the infidelity."

"Have you heard from her?"

"She´s called, but I must confess I didn´t feel up to talking to her right now. Maybe tomorrow. I've talked to Valerie and Stephanie, though."

They chatted about insignificant things for a while, and then Tank returned to his desk. He called down to Annie, who said she was on a roll with a fragment, and that Hector had gotten her coffee. She´d be up at the latest by six o´clock.

Ella came by, and Tank asked her to make dinner that evening, something that would be OK reheating, because probably Ranger would come. Ella was excited to meet her nephew, and said so. Although Tank thought that she would have been even more excited to meet Steph, not to mention baby Stella.

After Tank had worked his way through a bunch of documents on his computer Ranger called with an approximate time for the company jet´s landing. Tank told Woody and Cal to pick him up. A quick look on the time told him that Annie would soon be ready for dinner, and it would be too long until Ranger arrived to wait on him. He checked in with Ella, and asked her to bring the dinner to his apartment. He went to the electronics room, where Annie was just about ready to call it a day. Hector and Tank talked a bit about Ranger´s information, and then Tank and Annie had dinner. They talked about Morelli and the commissioner for a bit, but mostly enjoyed the food and discussed books they both had read.

Around nine o'clock they got a message that Ranger would soon be at Haywood, and they went up to the fifth floor. Bobby, Cal and Hector were also there, and Ella had made some sandwiches as well as coffee for the meeting. There was also some dinner waiting for Ranger.

When he arrived he first of all went over to Annie and said hello.

"I must thank you for dealing with the Morelli situation," Ranger said. "The fact that you contacted the police and then managed to get Helen Plum to talk… It has been an immense help in getting Steph to understand a bit about the way they both treated her. Now we'll just have to tie it all together."

Annie looked at him and thought for herself that he was a good looking man, but that she definitely preferred Tank.

"I suppose I´ll have to thank you," she said. "Or maybe Steph, because if Morelli hadn´t confused us I wouldn't have met all the Rangemen and especially Tank." She gave Tank a smile, which he returned.

"Do you want me to stay or get out of under your feet for the meeting?" she asked.

"I think you´d be a great help."

Ranger checked the time.

"My contact should be here soon. Why don't you give me a briefing."

"Ella´s made you some of your favorite food," Tank said. "You´d better eat."

Ranger laughed and filled a plate. The others filled their coffee mugs, and they all sat down around the conference table. Tank gave a succinct briefing, while Ranger efficiently ate his dinner. When he was finished his phone rang.

He talked quickly with the other person, and the hung up.

"My contact´s here. I´ll meet him in the garage. I don't want to take him through the reception with a risk to be spotted. I believe the commissioner is experienced enough to have this place under surveillance."

"I agree. We haven't had anyone over since Jackson was here. And I'm glad we only let him in on the ground floor. Hector has checked for bugs, and haven't found anything, but still."

Ranger went down to the garage with Hector. They were back in the conference room a while later. Hector had made a sweep for bugs, and hadn't found anything. Annie looked at the FBI agent. It was a tall Asian man in his forties, with a no nonsense attitude. Ranger introduced him as special agent James Yeoh.

"I got a thorough briefing over the phone yesterday. Are there any new facts since then?"

"Just that Joe Juniak will meet with administrators tomorrow. Interestingly enough he hasn´t been called to the police station to give information about the blackmail when he was a police commissioner."

"You still have Morelli?"

"We can get a hold of him in half an hour."

"It´s alright, I don't want to know where you keep him."

Yeoh took a sip of his coffee.

"Has he said anything?"

"Not really. For the first days he had the DTs, and when he got better he still didn´t want to talk. We've had him isolated, but he got to listen to the talk Annie had with Helen Plum plus Joe Juniak´s press conference."

"I think he honestly looks at himself as God´s gift to women," Annie said. "But his obsession with curly haired brunettes is creepy."

She looked around in the conference room.

"If you want any input from me I´ll be in Tank´s apartment. I´m just a civilian and don´t have anything else to say right now."

She gave Tank a quick kiss and left the room.

"She might be a civilian, but she is very perceptive," Yeoh said. "I was a bit uncomfortable with having her sitting in right now, so I'm glad she left for now.

"We've found some clues that Morelli indeed is obsessed with curly haired brunettes. We've checked his out of town-assignments, and there´s a correspondence with two rapes. We have DNA from one of the rapes, but haven't had anything to compare it to before. But now we have a DNA match. Both victims are curly haired brunettes."

"When did this happen?"

"The two rapes were within two days of each other, two years ago, both in Chicago. After that we haven't got any reported crimes we can connect with Morelli."

"He´s been bothering the prostitutes on Stark Street for at least half a year. I suppose you scared him enough to behave for a while," Tank said to Ranger.

"Fuck. The guilt will eat Stephanie. If we had reported him maybe they could have matched the DNA before."

"Then maybe you should point out that he got his DNA sampled more than two weeks ago, and obviously Trenton PD hasn't made any special efforts to get hold of him," Tank said.

"I agree," Yeoh said. "Nothing´s going to get better with the blame game. We must take this forward, but right now he's not out and around, plus we need his blackmail material so we can get his biggest enabler, commissioner Ford, locked up."

"And what do you propose we do to that end?" Tank asked.

"The FBI wants to take Morelli off your hands. Hopefully we can get him to give us the blackmail material."

"And then you'll give him a short sentence and he'll be out again harassing, or maybe worse, curly haired brunettes in his vicinity."

"We won´t make a deal that has him out and about for at least fifteen years. We can offer him a lesser sentence for some of the crimes he has committed under commissioner Ford, but the rapes alone are fifteen years. If you take the case of kidnapping to court it is five years. And then there's the breaking and entering with the assault on top. Even if the sentences aren't sequential he'll be put away for a long time."

"And if he refuses to tell you anything, or give you the blackmail material?"

"Oh, we have more people in the TPD than Johnson. And we have connections within the Grizolis as well. We have enough to put away quite a lot of people for some time, it´s commissioner Ford we're trying to haul in as well. And whoever's been helping him."

They discussed a few different plots to continue the work. Ranger offered agent Yeoh an apartment in Haywood, and he accepted.

"It´s better not to be seen around town right now," he said.

Ranger and Tank talked for a while.

"You know I´d be more than fine with you on the seventh floor?" Ranger said.

"Yeah, but I have my house, and an apartment here for shorter stays. But if you plan to invite more people to stay over we'll have a problem. Juniak and Frank Plum are already sharing an apartment, and the one for Yeoh just got free due to Zero finally moving in with his girlfriend."

"Talking about live in-girlfriends…"

"Where´s the subtle man of few words I used to know? Spit it out if there's anything you want to know or say."

"Just where you and Annie are headed."

"Right now I'm heading to bed. And we've talked about not moving too fast. But our forced cohabitation has worked out just fine."

"How long will she be in the US?"

"Her visa´s good until February next year. And she´s got her apartment ´til August. We've talked about her moving in officially then."

"I´m happy for you, man."

"Thanks."

They stood silent for a while.

"Morelli´s down in the hidden cell," Tank said. "I presume you're going down to talk to him?"

"If the FBI wants him, they´ll get him, but not before I´ve had a chance to talk. And Steph gave me back my promise to not hurt him. I've only promised not to kill him. And to not let any other Rangeman kill him either."

"Too bad you gave that last promise. But I'm sure Hector will have connections in whatever prison Morelli´ll turn up in."

"I believe that as well."

Tank returned to his apartment, and Ranger went up in smoke. At least he disappeared silently and without a trace on the surveillance cameras.

When Tank want into the apartment Annie was sitting in the sofa watching TV.

"Hi. You didn´t need to wait up for me."

"I didn´t need to, but I wanted to. Did you get anywhere in your planning?"

"I think so. Are you watching the show, or are you ready to head to bed?"

"I´m not even sure what show is on, so I'm definitely ready for bed."

Tank took a quick shower while Annie brushed her teeth, and then they went to bed. They were both tired and just cuddled until they fell asleep.

x x x

In the meantime in the basement…

Ranger silently opened the door to Morelli´s cell. He lay on the bed snoring. Ranger went over to the bunk and lifted the sleeping man up by his neck.

"What the…" Morelli fell silent as soon as he saw who was holding him.

"Not so cocky when you're not the biggest and strongest, are you?

"But then again Annie has managed to beat you off, and she seems to weigh about 120 pounds."

"Let me down!"

"Of course."

Ranger let go of him suddenly, and Morelli fell down on the floor. He scrambled up.

"You look better than when I saw you last," Ranger said. "Drying up alright?"

Morelli was silent.

"You think the silent routine´s going to work?"

Morelli continued his silence.

Ranger shrugged.

"It´s not like I **want** to talk to you. I´ll just pass on a message from my wife."

Morelli ended up on the floor clutching his crotch.

Ranger raised him from the floor and gave him a punch in the stomach.

"And that´s for the two women you raped in Chicago."

"And this is from me."

Ranger punched him in the face, and left the cell after leaving Morelli in semi-prone position.

He went to the surveillance room.

"Keep an eye and ear on Morelli. I don't want him dead. Not yet, at least."

"Will do," Woody said.


	26. Tuesday, part I

**A big thank you to those have favourited/followed/reviewed this story!**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the plot and Annie. Even the title is borrowed from Van Morrison.**

 _ **Italics - Spanish**_

 **Some bad words, some violence, and fade into black sex-scenes, nothing too graphic.**

 **Chapter 26. Tuesday, part I**

Ranger called Tank early the next day and invited him and Annie up to the penthouse apartment for breakfast.

"We'll be up after our workout," Tank said.

They met Ranger in the gym.

"You should´ve taped your hands," Tank said. "Steph will notice."

"She´ll be content knowing I used my knee for her signature move. But considering I´m stronger I thought that it would have even more of an effect than when she does it. I suppose she´s faster in small spaces."

Tank laughed, and after the workout and shower he and Annie went up to the seventh floor. They met Ella in the door, she had just delivered the breakfast. She quickly explained to Annie which dishes were vegetarian, and Annie thanked her.

Inside the apartment Ranger laughed a little at her breakfast.

"You look quite a lot like Steph, but you most definitely have totally different eating habits."

They ate and talked, but not anything about Rangeman or Morelli. They talked a bit about Annie´s work, of travels and hiking, and of course they got Ranger to show them some pictures of his family.

Taking a sip of her coffee Annie finally asked if there was anything she could help them with, otherwise she´d leave them to their own devices and continue with her work.

"Hector´s not in the electronics room today," Ranger said.

"You could use my desk, or work from the apartment again, just take care of your back and neck," Tank added.

"Thanks, I'll probably stay in the apartment at least until lunch."

She kissed Tank and thanked Ranger for the breakfast and left.

"She seems pretty perfect for you," Ranger commented.

"I honestly believes she´s perfect, period," Tank answered. "We have quite a lot of things in common, but are definitely different enough to have lot of things to talk about and discover together."

"We're meeting Yeoh in the conference room in fifteen minutes. Anything else since we talked last night?"

"No. And even though Annie´s not as against being cooped up as Steph, even I´m beginning to feel a bit claustrophobic. We´d better get a solution ASAP."

"I agree. Oh, and I went back to talk to Morelli before today´s workout. He´s willing to talk to the bureau, and told me how to find the blackmail material."

"And how much did you have to persuade him?"

"Not a thing today. And yesterday really was just a quick hello from Babe. And maybe two more punches. I think being locked up for so long and just meeting you was getting to him."

Tank gave him a look, and then nodded.

"I suppose the knowledge of what we both can do and would be willing to do, was helping."

"Probably. Oh, and I´ve sent Hector to collect the blackmail material. This way we can have our talk with Yeoh and still be able to say that we haven't seen it yet."

"OK."

They met Yeoh, Brown and Cal in the conference room.

"When would the FBI be able to pick up Morelli, and where do they want him?"

"Preferably after dark, and preferably somewhere else than Haywood."

"How about the private airfield I flew to yesterday?"

"Sounds good. 0200?"

"Will do. Are you able to tell us about your plans for today, or is it classified?"

"I´ll talk to Johnson, and one of my colleagues talked to the other person at TPD yesterday. Ford seems agitated, and Internal Affairs have talked to him. So far he hasn't admitted anything."

"Juniak´s meeting with administrators from the mayor´s office today. But he said he still hasn´t heard anything from the police, neither regular TPD or Internal Affairs," Cal said.

"We need a detail on Juniak today. The fact that it's more or less known he´s going to talk to the administration today makes him a target for the media, and also quite possibly for Ford," Tank added. "You got the task yesterday, Cal."

"It's all planned."

"And Frank Plum is going over to the house to talk to Helen after lunch. I´ll go with him," Bobby said.

Ranger looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"Or you can do it if you want to," Brown continued. "But I honestly think there´s a point in having a medically trained person tagging along. Annie said Helen Plum looked like she would have a heart attack in the park, and then she got violent."

"I´m just fine with never having to see her again," Ranger declared. "I´ll talk to Frank later."

The meeting broke up, and Yeoh left for the meeting with Johnson.

"Have you talked to Gazarra lately?" Ranger asked.

"No. He was here together with Johnson last Thursday. I really hope he managed to get some time with his family this weekend, so he probably hasn't had the time to look into it more. It´s not as if he's on official time with it."

"Delivering Morelli got trickier with the airport as the meeting point. Get Binkie and Woody to plan it."

Ranger and Tank kept discussing different scenarios, and then Hector came back. They met in the electronics room.

" _It was hidden at his old buddy´s hunting lodge in the Pines,"_ Hector said. " _I don't think anyone else knew it was there, especially not his old buddy. He had put up some things to ensure that he would know if someone found it."_

" _And he told me that if he didn´t log in on an account every month a mail would be sent to the district attorney with information on where to find the blackmail material,"_ Ranger told them. " _He had obviously put some photos in them as well. And one week after that there would be a mail to some big news companies."_

Ranger looked pissed off. " _He said that he even used to have an automatic mail to Steph´s address. But since he didn´t have her current e-mail he had no way to contact her anymore. But he thought that she wouldn't want the authorities to be able to put the lid on. The son of a bitch really thought that she would do him that favor."_

" _Did you get his email address? I think it would be better if Hector stopped those messages."_

" _I did that before I even left for the Pines,"_ Hector said.

He opened the cache. It was a weather proof capsule with some debris still on it.

" _He had hidden it inside one of the outer walls at the lodge. I had to pull out some nails and remove two boards to get it. And before you ask, yes I put everything back in order."_

" _Honestly, I never thought you wouldn´t."_

Inside the cache there were two plastic boxes, one about the size of a legal pad, the other one a bit smaller. Hector had gloves on and carefully pried the lid off the bigger one. Inside there were plastic bags with photos. A quick perusal showed more Joe Juniak together with Helen Plum than anyone wanted to see. There were also naked pictures of Ford. But in the case of Ford there was not only photos of him without clothes and in the company of much younger women, there was also photos of him sniffing cocaine and at the poker table with a lot of money. The quality of the photos was so good it looked like a professional photographer had taken them. In comparison the older footage of Juniak with Helen Plum looked grainy and almost blurred.

" _He must have known where Ford would be and what he would be doing well in advance. Those photos are almost too good,"_ Tank said.

" _I agree."_

" _I suppose Morelli still was on good terms with Terry Gilman. She could have helped him."_

After a moment of thoughtful silence Ranger agreed.

" _And the time of Gilman´s death in that car accident corresponds with when he stepped up his pursuit of Stephanie_ _ **and**_ _those two rapes in Chicago."_

The smaller box held three memory cards.

" _I'll get copies of everything, and then I´ll put it back in the boxes, so you can give it to the fed´s."_

" _Thanks Hector. I really appreciate all your help. And I know that Steph does as well."_

" _You´re welcome."_

They all went up to the break room to get some lunch. Tank went to the apartment to get Annie.

She was sitting at the small table in the breakfast nook, writing furiously on her laptop.

"Hi. You want to come get some lunch?"

"I could do with some food and coffee. But I´ve had a really productive day so far. I've written almost a whole chapter."

Tank gave her a kiss and escorted her towards the break room.

"And has your morning been productive, Tank?"

"Yeah. And I really want this to be over, I want to go home to my house and snuggle up with you and the cats. Even Mrs. Gonzales would be nice to talk to right now. I like my work and my colleagues, but I don't want to be around them 24/7."

"I agree. I look forward to being outside and not look over the shoulder, I´d really like to just run in the park or take a walk to work. And I want to go on another picnic with you."

"I promise you´ll get to do that and more soon."

They helped themselves to some food in the break room and sat down with Hector at a table. Ranger, Frank Plum and Bobby were sitting at another table, Frank sporting what looked like a new black eye on top of his old more yellowish one. Bobby had a fresh scratch down his left cheek.

"Frank, Bobby," Tank said.

"Hello." Annie said.

"Hello. Come over to our table? We can talk about my crazy soon to be ex-wife. Or not talk about her. I´d like that better."

Annie, Tank and Hector moved over to the table with the other men.

"If you want to talk about it, I´d be glad to listen," Annie said.

"The Reader's Digest version is that Helen didn´t want to get a divorce, and when I told her I would draw back the offer to keep the house if she didn´t sign the divorce papers she launched like a missile, clocked me in the eye and continued to scratch Bobby when he came over to get her away from me. Obviously we are both gentlemen enough, or stupid enough, not to be able to hit a woman, so it took some time to make an orderly retreat. I think she got the point about signing before Monday or losing out on the house and most likely meeting in court with the added threat of having to pay me. I had hoped to be able to pick up some of my clothes, but I relinquished those plans. We stopped and bought some stuff on the way over here."

"I would say I´m sorry, but really, I think you got out of there with just minimal damage, it could have been a lot worse."

"I agree. We even went inside a trailer dealer and got some brochures on the way."

"Trailer?" Ranger asked.

"Yes, I´ve been thinking of driving around the country, stopping where I feel like it. I have nothing holding me in Trenton anymore. Of course I´ll visit with my daughters and grandchildren from time to time. I´m really looking forward to not living in the ´Burg anymore."

"I hope you'll visit us in Miami before you get on the road."

"Of course. I´ve promised Stephanie to come for the christening, and I want to meet her and Stella too. Maybe I´ll just rent a trailer first and see if it's something that suits me."


	27. Tuesday, part II

**A big thank you to those have favourited/followed/reviewed this story!**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the plot and Annie. Even the title is borrowed from Van Morrison.**

 _ **Italics - Spanish**_

 **Some bad words, some violence, and fade into black sex-scenes, nothing too graphic.**

 **Chapter 27. Tuesday, part II**

They talked about different parts of the USA they had seen or wanted to visit, and finished their meal with some coffee. They were just rising from the table when Zero came in and put on the TV.

"You´d better see this," he said.

The TV had on extra news from the local channel. It showed an ambulance leaving the City hall. A reporter looked into the camera and talked about the assault on former mayor Juniak. As of right now no one knew if Juniak had been hit or not.

Tank picked up his phone, but never got the chance to call anyone before it rang.

"Yes."

"-"

"We just saw it on the TV News."

"-"

"Anyone else?"

"-"

"I'll send over reinforcements."

He hung up.

"That was Cal. Someone took a shot at Juniak when they left through the back door on the City Hall. He was wearing a vest and only got a scratch from a ricochet. No one else was hurt. Juniak was taken to the hospital for checkup, but according to Tank he was conscious and loudly complaining that it was only a scratch and that Brown could stitch him up in five minutes, or maybe even just put a bandaid on it. Hal was with him in the ambulance, and Cal, Vince and Manny were in car following. I said we´d send a second team to get him out of the hospital safely."

"The shooter?"

"No information so far. The TPD had just arrived when they left with the ambulance."

"OK. Tank, take a team to the hospital. I'll try to get Yeoh on the phone."

Tank gave Annie a kiss and left to put on his vest and more weapons.

" _You want to work in the electronics room?"_

" _Thanks Hector, but I´ll be in the apartment. I don't know if I can concentrate right now."_

" _You know where I am if you want some company or someone to talk to."_

" _Thanks Hector."_

Annie gave him a hug, and then went to the apartment. She made a cup of tea and sat in the sofa with her laptop and tried to write some emails, simultaneously watching the news. She soon gave up on the emails, and concentrated on the news. They were still rehashing what they had said earlier, and gave less information than Annie already had from Cal´s short phone call to Tank. The police refused to leave any comments, according to the news reporter.

After what felt like an eternity Tank came through the door. Annie ran from the couch and hugged him. Tank just held her, stroking her hair and back.

"I´m sorry," she said.

"You don't get to apologize. I should have called you, but I had to stay focused on bringing Juniak and the teams here. I got here as soon as I was back at Haywood."

"Thanks." Annie tried to dry her tears, and Tank gave her a kiss.

"You want to come to the conference room and hear what's happened?"

"Absolutely. I'll just wash my face first."

They were in the conference room five minutes later. It was full to the brim, with Rangemen, Juniak, Frank Plum and agent Yeoh.

Annie looked at Juniak on the other side of the room. He had a bandage on his left arm, but seemed to take it in stride.

"Here´s a chair for you," Woody offered.

Annie was about to say that she could stand, but a look convinced her that that argument would not hold, so she smiled and thanked Woody for the seat.

Ranger began the meeting.

"All right. Quick recapitulation. Joe Juniak was in the City hall today to talk to some administrators. We had a team on him, and he had a vest. When they left the building through a backdoor somebody took a shot at him. The first shot hit him on the left side of his chest. The vest worked, but he´ll have a bruise, and he cracked a couple of ribs. The second shot ricocheted of the buildings wall and caused a small wound on his left arm. No one else was hurt, and the team protected him. After an examination in the hospital and some stitches an increased team saw to his transportation here."

Juniak stood up.

"I just want to thank the team and all of Rangeman. You saved me today, and I don't want to think about what would have happened without you."

He sat down again.

"Apart from the team close to Juniak, Ram had surveillance further out. He caught the shooter, but not before he managed two shots at Juniak, and one at Ram. In self-defense Ram shot him, and the shooter is now in intensive care at the hospital. It was Johnson. Ram was not hit."

Yeoh took over.

"I talked to Johnson, who said commissioner Ford gave him the order. He claimed that he tried to do it like when he shot Tank. The big difference in my opinion is that he couldn't be sure that Juniak had a vest on. Oh, beside the small fact that he hasn't reported any of the shootings to the FBI. And we don't encourage shooting people, whatever you've heard about us.

"I could only talk to Johnson for a couple of minutes. Right now he has two guards from Rangeman plus two from the TPD outside the door, and some from the FBI are on their way. When they get there we´ll withdraw the Rangeman guards. But there's no way I trust the men from the TPD with Ford still around.

"There's a warrant of arrest against Ford, but so far he's still on the loose."

Hector took a step forward.

" _I put trackers on the two cars in commissioner Ford´s garage,"_ he said. " _I did it after Annie met with Helen Plum in the park. I also have one on Johnson's car. Right now Johnson´s Toyota is heading towards Newark. Maybe Ford is in it. The two cars in his garage are still there."_

Yeoh immediately called the FBI and Hector sent them the tracker information.

The meeting broke up soon after. Brown tried to convince Juniak that he should rest in the apartment, but Juniak refused. He said he wanted to know if it was Ford in the car before he considered taking any more pain pills or rest.

Tank, Ranger and Yeoh had a mini conference in one corner of the room, and decided that the delivery of Morelli was still on for the same place and the same time. Depending on if Ford was still not found before that they might reschedule.

Before Yeoh left for the TPD he got the cache with Morelli´s photos and the memory cards. He lifted his eyebrow at Ranger when he claimed that they had gotten the material just half an hour before.

"I see. You have no idea what's in it or have looked at the contents."

"I'm pretty sure that there´s enough evidence to take Ford down, even without Johnson´s testimony. But I haven't had the time to look at the material," Ranger answered. "Besides I'm not especially interested in Ford. Just get him locked up so people can move around freely again."

Yeoh left, but met up with a team of the FBI to get a look on the material before he went to the TPD.

Tank called Gazarra, but it went to voicemail. He could easily imagine that the police officer didn´t have the time to take phone calls, so he just left a message. Then Ella came into the conference room with coffee, tea, sandwiches and still warm cookies.

"They smell fantastic," Annie said with a smile.

"I thought that you could need some happy food," Ella answered.

"Thanks. But that said I must stress that so far we have been incredibly lucky that there's not been anyone killed. So in a way I **am** happy. But I´ll definitely feel even more happy with a cookie or two."

They drank some coffee and ate of Ella´s bounty. When they were about to break up Ranger´s phone rang. He answered it and had a brief conversation. He hung up.

"OK, that was Yeoh. It was Ford in Johnson´s car. When he saw the roadblock he tried to force his way through. When they shot in self-defense he ran into the barrier on the side of the road. He´s dead."

They were silent for a while.

"Well, I suppose we'll be short some explanations for ever then," Juniak said.

"Most likely. Unless Morelli knows more, or Ford has a similar setup as Morelli and someone will get mail or email in a few weeks."

"Does this mean we can go home?" Annie asked Tank in a low voice where she sat beside him.

"I sure hope so. But I think we should wait until tomorrow to be on the safe side."

She burrowed closer to him, and he put his arm around her.

Brown gave Juniak a long gaze.

"I get it, Bobby. I will take some pain meds now and go and rest for a bit."

"Good. You have my number if you need anything."

Juniak and Frank left, and as the others were on their way out Tank´s phone rang. Tank had a short conversation, and then hung up.

"It was Gazarra. He asked if he could come over. He had some things to tell us. He'll bring someone as well."

"We better meet in the conference room on the first floor then. The last time he brought someone over it was Johnson," Bobby said.

"I´m going back to the apartment if that's OK with you," Annie said to Tank.

"Of course. I don't know when I'll be back. I hope I'm not involved in delivering Morelli, but this day has screwed with all plans."

He kissed her and Annie went to Tank´s apartment.

Ranger looked at him and lifted his left eyebrow in a silent question.

"She was tired. And she´s not really involved with the police angle except for Morelli."

x x x

They went downstairs, and Gazarra arrived a short while later. He had a police in uniform with him.

"Gaspick." Ranger said.

"Ranger, Tank, Brown."

"We're just waiting for Hector to get here and check you. You can leave your cell phones over at the desk in the meantime."

Hector came and made quick work of searching for surveillance equipment.

They went in the conference room, and Ranger called for coffee.

Just as they were about to start talking there was a knock on the door. Outside stood Yeoh and an unknown man.

"Just wait for Hector, then we can continue this talk," Tank said.

Hector checked them over, and then they came inside.

"Gaspick," Yeoh nodded at the policeman.

"Yeoh, Weaver."

"For those who hasn´t met him, this is special agent Weaver. He´s been on the Ford case for quite a while."

Agent Weaver looked like he was in his early thirties, with a short stylish haircut, and a light build.

"As I was about to tell you before we were interrupted it seems like Gaspick here isn't exactly what he looks like."

"A stuck up bootlicker with a hard on for the minutiae of the law?" Tank suggested.

"Trying to cozy up to Morelli as often as he could." Ranger continued.

"Actually he's been working for the FBI for more than five years," Yeoh interjected. "He was stationed at the Trenton PD because, as I've told you, we've had our eyes here for a long time."

Ranger and Tank looked at Gaspick, who calmly met their eyes.

"I´ll give you the benefit of the doubt if you have anything to contribute to clear up this cluster-fuck," Ranger finally said. "But you were a real pain in the ass towards my wife before, so it better be good."

Yeoh then held the briefing, and with input from the people in the room they managed to get a clearer picture.

Morelli had blackmailed Juniak to make him a police officer a couple of years before Juniak became mayor. Ford replaced Juniak, and Morelli had blackmail material on him before he even started as commissioner. Yeoh said that they had checked the photos and memory cards from Morelli´s cache, and the dates on some of the pictures were before Ford replaced Juniak. The appointment of the police commissioner was political, and some of the politicians involved were suspected of ties to the mob, even though they hadn't found any hard evidence.

Gaspick said that during his time at the Trenton PD he had managed to cozy up enough to Morelli to see that he was helping the Grizoli family, overall was a lazy and lousy detective, and confirmed the rumors that Morelli had inside information enough on Stephanie to get quite a lot of money on the bets about her. Ford often had Morelli doing special 'errands' for him, even though Johnson had taken over some of those when Morelli´s addiction to alcohol and drugs had made him unreliable. His continued obsession with Stephanie-look-alikes had been noted as well. Gaspick also mentioned some other people at the TPD he had tied to the mob, in some cases he had evidence, in some not.

Weaver confirmed that they had evidence on some at the TPD, and that Johnson had collected evidence on some of them. Unfortunately they couldn't be sure if the evidence was untampered with, and it would hardly stand up in court. And a comparison of the names that Gaspick supplied and the ones on Johnson's list showed that the latter mostly had ties with other mob families than Grizoli, or gangs.

Gaspick also told them that he knew of at least four incidents with Morelli stalking women, all of them 'persuaded' not to report it officially. At least one case of DUI was also not officially reported.

Commissioner Ford had due to his mob connections concentrated the efforts of the TPD on other families than the Grizolis. The work had definitely made a difference, but in the ensuing power vacuum that emerged the Grizolis had managed to consolidate themselves as leaders.

They briefly discussed Ford´s death and probable consequences. But no one could really predict what would happen.

"Who's in charge at the police station right now?" Tank asked.

"Ford´s second in command, Carver," Gazarra answered. "Problem is, he was close to Ford, which automatically makes me suspicious of him. And I honestly don't know how they appoint someone under these circumstances. Or who does the appointment, since many of the politicians are suspected of ties to the mob. And we don't have a mayor either…"

"The FBI has made authorities aware of the problem. Carver won´t be commissioner in a couple of days," Yeoh said.

Gaspick and Gazarra left shortly after, and the FBI-agents confirmed that the transfer of Morelli would continue as scheduled.

Yeoh also thanked them for their hospitality, but from now on he would be staying at the same hotel as agent Carver.

When the FBI-agents had left they gathered in the conference room on the fifth floor. Woody and Binkie came in and told them of how they planned to get Morelli to the airfield. They would get him out of Haywood through a tunnel that came up half a block from the Rangeman building. They had talked to Bobby, and decided that it would be easier to anaesthetize Morelli for the trip. Everything was set up, and they would leave in two hours.

"Now what?" Tank asked when everybody else had left them in the conference room.

"Now you go to your woman. And tomorrow I sure hope I'll be returning to mine."

"Sounds like a plan. Have you talked much to Frank?"

"No, I haven't."

"Maybe you should take him with you to Miami, and not wait until the christening. He needs to get away from Trenton."

"I'll talk to him and Babe."

"Good."

Ranger went up to the seventh floor, and Tank went to his apartment. When he opened the door he found Annie asleep on the sofa. He checked the fridge, and as silently as possible made a salad to go with the leftovers. When he had laid the table he woke Annie.

"Hello sleepyhead."

"Hi. For your information I needed that sleep."

"If I hadn't needed some food in my stomach I would have carried you into bed and joined you. I have some food over at the kitchen table."

They talked a bit about what Tank had learned in the conference room. And they decided that tomorrow they would get back to Tank´s house. Annie declared that she would stay there for a couple of days to acclimate to, as she called it, normal life.


	28. Wednesday

**A big thank you to those have favourited/followed/reviewed this story!**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the plot and Annie. Even the title is borrowed from Van Morrison.**

 _ **Italics - Spanish**_

 **Some bad words, some violence, and fade into black sex-scenes, nothing too graphic.**

 **DOUBLE POST TODAY! DO NOT MISS THE EPILOGUE!**

 **Chapter 28 Wednesday**

The next morning Tank and Annie skipped the gym and had some private cardio exercise in bed. They ate breakfast in the apartment, and then Tank went up to the conference room. Annie had decided to take another day away from the actual papyri, since she was on a roll with writing about them.

The briefing took quite some time, but the highlights were that they were finally rid of Morelli, and the hidden cell had been thoroughly cleaned. Gazarra had called very early in the morning and said that Johnson had been found dead at the hospital. There would be an autopsy. Whether it was an effect of the shot or if someone had decided to hasten his demise was unsure. The Rangeman team had been relieved by FBI-agents earlier in the evening, and hadn't been standing watch during the night.

Ranger returned to Miami in his private jet, and Frank decided to go with him. Juniak had looked envious when Frank left, but he had quite a lot of things to sort out before he could leave Trenton. Before he left Ranger had emphasized that there still were threats against the former mayor, and had declared that Rangeman would continue to provide him with a security detail whenever he left Haywood, and also asked him to stay at Haywood for the time being. Juniak was a bit more shaken about the shot the day before than he had let on, so he thanked Ranger and Rangeman, and declared that he would stay at Haywood. Ranger also suggested that most of the meetings could be held at Haywood, eliminating the need to go to the City Hall, which demonstrably was a hard place to secure.

At lunchtime Tank looked out his window on the beautiful weather, and told Binkie that he would be on his own with the paperwork for the rest of the day. He then called Ella and asked her for a picnic hamper and blanket. He went down to the apartment and found Annie working diligently on her laptop.

"What do you say? You want to go on a picnic with me?"

"I´d love to. I've written more than I had hoped so far, but tomorrow I need to get back to the papyri."

They got the picnic things from Ella and went down to the garage.

Tank gave Annie a fruit and nut bar.

"Ella makes those. If it´s OK with you I thought that we could get out of town. You've done beautifully despite being cooped up, but I have a feeling that you're like me and being inside if it's not by your own choice is a bit suffocating. And if you eat that bar you´ll be OK with waiting a bit for the picnic."

"Sounds like a great idea. And you're right. It´s been suffocating. But then again, I´ve had you with me, otherwise I don't know what I´d done by now."

They drove for about an hour, and then had a picnic at the beach. Afterwards they put back the picnic-basket in the car, and went for a long walk at the beach. There was a cold wind from the sea, but they walked for a couple of hours until they returned to the car.

"Thanks. That was just what I needed. To be outside, get some fresh air and exercise, and not have to look over my shoulder all the time. And I haven't really been on the beach here before. It was calming."

"You´re welcome. And I agree, we needed both fresh air and some time for ourselves."

They bought some food on the way home, and collected the cats. They all had a quiet evening, and went to bed early.

"You know," Annie said, cuddling up to Tank. "I can't decide which part of T.S. Eliot´s final stanza of 'The Hollow Men' is most appropriate."

' _This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper,_ ' Tank quoted.

Annie gave him a smile and a kiss.

"I saw the book in your collection," she said. "And I can't help but think that for those not directly involved in the aftermath, it feels like a whimper. And don't take it the wrong way; I much prefer that to a bang. I just feel that there was so much drama along the way, and now it's sort of quiet."

"I agree. But I definitely feel that the best ends are the ones without the bang. Unless it's in a more vulgar language."

"Thanks for breaking my introspective mood," Annie laughed. And kissed him.

"I believe we can use the more vulgar meaning."


	29. Epilogue

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the plot and Annie. Even the title is borrowed from Van Morrison.**

 _ **Italics - Spanish**_

 **Some bad words, some violence, and fade into black sex-scenes, nothing too graphic.**

x x x

 **A big THANK YOU to those who have read and/or reviewed my very first fanfiction-story! Just a short epilogue left. For those who want to read more from this Alternate Universe I have a short fluffy story, 8 chapters, with Bobby Brown I will continue to publish after this. It's called 'Breathe a Sigh', and I will post every second day, starting this Wednesday.**

 **DOUBLE POST TODAY. DO NOT MISS CHAPTER 28.**

 **Epilogue**

The weather in Miami was a definite improvement to Trenton´s, Annie thought to herself. The last week they had had cold weather and quite a lot of rain, but Miami had sunshine, balmy winds and even a nice temperature in the water. Not that they had had the time to go swimming yet, but she had packed two swimsuits. One for bathing and one for teasing Tank, if she was honest with herself. The plane had just landed, and they were about to get into the cars that Rangeman had sent over to pick them up.

Annie smiled when Tank said that they were staying at a small hotel, the others in the company were in a bigger more fancy one, but the one Tank had picked was more romantic. They got into a car of their own, after waving good bye to Ella, Luis, Hector, Bobby, Mary Lou and her family, plus Dougie, Mooner and Sally Sweet.

Valerie and her family were not coming for the christening. Instead the whole family would come for a mini vacation two weeks later. The sisters had tried to mend their relationship, and it seemed to be working when they were away from Helen Plum´s toxic influence.

"I must say I´m happy to be on our own," Annie said. "I like the guys, and Mary Lou and her family were really nice, but I'm looking forward to be just us. Even though I think that going out with Sally Sweet could be fun."

"We're not that far away from their hotel, if you want to get together it´ll be easy."

"Decisions, decisions… Romantic time with you or partying with Sally Sweet." Annie gave him a quick kiss. "You'll win every time."

"We're invited over to Casa Mañoso for brunch tomorrow. It will be just us plus Bobby and Hector. The rest of the invited guests will come over a couple of hours later."

"Sounds good. It's strange, I´ve never met Stephanie, but she feels like an old friend."

They ate at a romantic restaurant, tried out the bed and shower, and declared that the ones at Tank´s house were better for extracurricular activities, but the view from the windows were much better here. The hotel´s bed and shower were not in any way in a bad condition, they just didn´t seem as sturdy as Tank preferred. They even took the time for a midnight stroll at the beach before they went to sleep.

The next morning they dressed, Tank in khaki trousers and a red shirt, Annie in a blue sundress, before they got into the car and drove over to Casa Mañoso. Annie and Stephanie hit it off from the start. The brunch was delicious, and Annie got to hear a trademark Stephanie moan when she ate a doughnut. Of course they got to know Tank´s goddaughter, six weeks old Stella, as well as one can know a six week old. She looked tiny in Tank´s big hands.

Frank Plum seemed to flourish in the warmer weather away from his soon to be ex-wife. Helen had signed the divorce papers, and Frank had changed his phone number. He was still thinking of driving across the country, but had decided to stay in Miami for a while. He had his own apartment over the garage, and didn´t feel like he intruded too much on his daughter and son-in-law. He said that Joe Juniak had called. He was still trying to get everything together at the City hall and was also involved in some things at the police department. As Juniak said, he may have been blackmailed to help Morelli, but compared to some of the people in the police department he was a shining example. He hoped to be finished with everything in a month or two, and had already sold his big house. Now he was considering what to do in the future. He had enough to live comfortably for the rest of his life, so he didn´t really need a new job.

Annie excused herself and went to the restroom, and on her way back to the others she took a detour to the balcony and looked at the view over the ocean.

"Beautiful!" someone said and gave her a hug from behind. "I can't believe you had a baby just a few weeks ago! You look great!"

"That might be because she didn´t," Tank said. "Hi Lester. If you let her go you can be introduced to Annie."

Lester immediately let go of Annie, who couldn´t help but laugh.

"I sure am grateful that I don´t look like I had a baby just a few weeks ago. That said, Stephanie definitely doesn't look like she recently gave birth."

Lester blushed and for once didn´t know what to say. Tank stepped in.

"Annie, this is Lester Santos. The fourth partner in Rangeman, and the manager of the Boston office. Lester, this is Annie Morrison, Stephanie- look-a-like from behind, and my girlfriend."

Annie held out her hand, and Lester finally composed himself.

"Hello," Annie said. "Nice to finally meet you, I've heard a lot about you."

"Hello. Nice to meet you too. I´ve heard about you as well."

"Bobby is a gossip," Tank said in an aside to Annie.

"Lester!" Steph came out on the balcony and hugged him tightly.

"Beautiful! You look great!"

Annie and Tank couldn´t help their laughs, and excused themselves for the moment.

The rest of the guests arrived shortly afterwards, and they had an afternoon full of laughter and good food.

The next day Stella Maria Mañoso was baptized. Godparents were Tank and Carlos sister Celia.

x x x

In a prison cell far away from Miami Joe Morelli woke up with a start. A huge Latino with two teardrop tattoos was standing just inside the cell.

"Hi Cupcake. I have a message for you," were the last words he remembered before he woke up in the medical ward.


End file.
